The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 670 - Ian Rapoport From The League Meetings, Tom E. Curran, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: May 24, 2022

On today’s show Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys talk about Indianapolis securing the combine for the next two years, various NFL storylines, the NHL playoffs, the NBA playoffs, and everything else happening in the sports world. Joining the progrum in the first hour is NFL Network Insider and friend of the show, Ian Rapoport, calling from the League Meetings to chat about what is going on at these meetings, Pro Bowl changes, Brady’s contract being confirmed with FOX, the Kroenke St Louis situation, and more (21:16-52:54). Later in hour two, Patriots Insider, NBC Sports Boston, and host of Tom Curran’s Patriot Talk Podcast, Tom E. Curran, joins the progrum to discuss Mac Jones, doubts about Patriots success, the Celtics in the Playoffs, and more (1:19:20-1:39:15). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show and listen on Sirius XM Channel 82, Mad Dog Radio. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people. It is a whoa. This show's packed Tuesday, May 24th, 2022. And we shall commence immediately following this beat drop from Twine. There it is. Here we go. Can't thank you enough for watching or listening wherever the hell you may be. I hope your day is going glorious. The weather seems to be breaking again here in Indianapolis. It feels like now we are officially in the summer and this weekend with the big race on Sunday. There we go. There's no better time than now to chit-chat about all things sports.

The NFL League meetings are happening and there is a lot coming out of there, including the fact that Indianapolis will be the home of the NFL Combine for the next two years. Congrats to this beautiful city of Indianapolis, Indiana, the perfect host city for basically any event that you would like to have. Calling the Combine its own for years and years, we'll continue to do so for at least two more years.

There was other cities bidding on it because of how massively successful the Combine has become as a television program. They have it on primetime with a lot of eyes, and Indianapolis gets a lot of attention during it. We are very thankful that it will remain in this city that is literally built to host. The stadium is connected to the convention center, which is connected to all the hotels and bars and restaurants. Everything's walkable in a confined area,

and everybody in town understands what the deal is when the NFL comes in. It's a great time. I don't believe anybody has ever said they haven't had a blast. A lot of people are starting not to come because they have too much fun. That's right. And that's what Indianapolis likes to be known for. So congratulations to the owners making a decision and Indianapolis for keeping a

combine for another two years. Bill Belichick still awesome. There's a lot of things to talk about. We'll have Ian Rappaport joining us in about 15 minutes. He's live at the league meetings. Back-to-back days with him. Don't know how I'll feel about it. On the fence.

He's boots on the ground, though. He's going to be so pumped that he can booze in Indy next year again. Yeah, he's going to be pumped to booze in Indy. I wonder if he's boozing at these league meetings trying to get more and more inside sources because Roger Goodell was down there chit-chatting about the new diversity coach program

they got going on and hoping to hire more ex- players, I believe, and candidates of minorities and everything like that. So Goodell's there. Ownership's there. GMs are there. Coaches are there. Hopefully Ian Rappaport's got more news and he's been tweeting a storm this morning about breaking news.

Can't wait to chat with him in 15 minutes. Tom E. Curran of DC Sports Boston will join us in the second hour. Always good when old Uncle Tom E. stops by. He's been boots on the ground at the OTAs. And allegedly Mac Jones looked vastly different than he did last year. He's yoked. He's shredded. He's got a jawline. What are the Patriots up to this year other than Bill Belichick saying,

we'll pick a play caller months and months and months? Michael Vick will join us in the third hour. There was rumors that he was going to go back to playing football for the fan control, fan crazed football league, which has its last games this weekend before the playoffs. I'm not sure that's the case. Can't wait to chat with him and hear what he's got going on.

Life should be good. A.J. Hawk will be here in about an hour. And the toxic table is here looking better than ever. At Ty Schmidt, I do believe it is your time in a rotation for the shirt 15% discount. That is correct. I love this shirt. What is it? The For the Brand Left Chest Collection.

Left Chest Collection. Nice. Which is different than the For the Brand Middle of the Sternum Collection. That's right. Which is vastly different than the Pat McAffee show left chest collection much different this is the for the brand left chest spring collection bingo 15 off all of them you wear it on regular basis i do like the shirt oh yeah i honestly probably wear this i would say four to five days a week whether it's at home just lounging around or very nice i love this shirt let's go appreciate you guys shout out to the fire department new york by the way shout out go to store.pat nice of you, Ty. We appreciate you. I love this shirt. It's cool. Appreciate you, guys.

Shout out to the fire department in New York, by the way. Shout out. Go to store.padmagfyshow.com. You can get Ty Schmidt's favorite shirt that he has in our entire collection for 15% off or at the top, no code needed. Numerous colors available. Yeah, that's right. It's always nice.

And sitting next to Toxic Ty at the Toxic table is at Boston Connor with an incredible mullet helmet. Boston Celtics without the defense player of the year seem to be better than they've ever been. What a blowout. Only winning by 20 last night. What a letdown. There was a point deep into the first quarter where the Miami Heat

had only scored one point. It was 18-1 in an NBA playoff game. A lot of blowouts this year I guess in the playoffs. What the hell's going on? Are the Celtics all the way back or did Miami Heat just mail it in for a night? I mean, I would love to say the Celtics are all the way back, but every single game of this series has been a blowout

on either side. It really doesn't make that much sense. Jim Rimes has been trash. Yeah, he did. Garbage. It has been. I feel bad for people who have to watch it who aren't Celtics or Heat fans because you're not really watching a good game. There hasn't been one where some team's not up 20 or 30 points during the game. But, yeah, we're all the way back.

We knew Jason Tatum was going to put on a show. He had 24 points in the first half for people that, you know, bet on him to score 35 points and he only scored seven in the second half. Kind of messed up. Oh, so you didn't have to do that. You could have just taken his over 27 and a half, which is what I did. You could have done that. And just put a flat, big-ass bet on that because you were 100% right.

I think everything you were saying about Tatum is accurate. I think he was going to bounce back. He only had, what, seven points? Ten. Ten points. Seven turnovers. Seven turnovers, ten points in the last game, which assumed that he was going to bounce back.

He did such a thing. He covered over for me. Oh, yeah. And now I got Miami Heat live at plus 23 and a half. I think it was the second quarter. Second quarter, they were getting 23 and a half. I think it was the second quarter. Second quarter, they were getting 23 and a half points. Up 30 by then.

23 and a half points you were able to get in an NBA playoff game in the second quarter. I'm like, fucking give it to me. I guess I will take that. They end up only winning by 20.

Covered there. Tatum hit the over. I hit the Justin Thomas thing. I'm all the way back right now. Here we go. Gambling feeling good in my bones right now. Chomping Gumbler on Candle Sportsbook. What else?

The Tampa Bay Lightning swept the Florida Panthers. Easy money. That's over. The NBA and the NHL kind of carrying everything, although the MLB is happening. What is the current series for the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat? 2-2. What is the current series for the Mavs?

3-0. That's tonight. In hockey, there's a bunch still left. 2-1, two games, two series tonight. We got Canes at Rangers. That's 2-1. The Flames are in Edmonton. That's 2-1.

Lightning closed it out. I'm forgetting one. Colorado. Colorado's up 3-1 Yeah, Colorado won last night Johnson scored last night For the Avalanche Not our Johnson

It was Eric Johnson As opposed to Jack Johnson Jack's back in the lineup Not the bananas Not the banana pancake Jack Johnson We're talking Jack Johnson AJ Hawk brother-in-law

Plays for the Avalanche So Ipso facto Family of the show is on the Avalanche. They win a Stanley Cup. We are bombarding the Stanley Cup day that Jack Johnson has. That is correct. Yeah, he's definitely a Bengals. Got paid well with the Bengals, didn't he?

Handsomely. Nick, NHL playoffs going well, you guys would say? I think so. I think it's about as better than anyone could have expected, to be honest. I think being on ESPN and TNT is massive for people just scrolling through and just stumbling upon a game because they've been electric. You get in there and we always talk about

how much better the playoffs are than regular season. Play 82 regular season games, it's way too many. You get in the playoffs, everybody's going a mile a minute. The pace is high. Big hits, goals. A lot of goals this year too, which is nice. Yeah, which is great. That Battle of Alberta started 9-6 or something like that.

I found this fascinating because this is happening in two sports here, both the NHL and the NBA. TNT and ESPN are competing because it's every other day for every other sport. Last night for the NBA, I was watching the pre-show.

Two nights ago, I was watching Chuck come in on a horse that's right the whole thing last night i was watching uh malika and jaylen and steven a and mike wilbon right i believe right jacoby too it jaylen jacoby jacoby does one of the uh the hits from the court as well. Okay. Who does that for Turner? It's not Doris, I don't think. Do they have someone they throw to on site? I think it's just those guys on the panel.

I'm not sure, but they are competing. So it's hard not to just be like, oh, this show is going against the other show because it's every other night. And in the NHL, they're doing the same thing. Turner's show versus ESPN. Where's Wayne Gretzky been? Great question. Biz chugged. How many cans of Red Bull does Biz got to chug?

Carry that thing over there. I thought Wano was a part of the entire coverage. I thought this guy was going to win an Emmy because right now, Turner is doing its thing against ESPN in basketball. Obviously, what is it called? NBA Talk

TV. Yeah, NBA on TNT. Yeah, whatever it is. It's fucking unbelievable. It doesn't even have a show because I don't know the name of the show because it's like Turner's Chuck Shack EJ Kenny. That is the staple basically of studio like kickoff shows.

Yes. ESPN though has to go against them literally the next night, by the way, FanDuel with the Turner one. Okay. Another company that's doing, um, in the,

they're in the business. They are on the ESPN one. Everything is, there's no reason for us to talk about that. We hope everybody has success. We hope that our partners have more success, obviously, because that's better for all parties included, including ours. But it is very clear that they are competing against each other.

I think Turner currently has a clean sweep. You get Greeny back out there, though. Greeny brings the juice. They have J.J. Redick. They need J.J. Redick in there. He should be on there. I don't know if ESPN is viewing it that way, and that's why Greeny and Stephen A. and Will Bond,. Redick. They need J.J. Redick in there. He should be on there. They should. I don't know if ESPN's viewing it that way

and that's why Greeny and Stephen A. and Will Bond, they have all their heavy hitters. All their heavy hitters since the beginning, I guess, the NBA playoffs

have missed their daily shows. Like Stephen A. out of first day, Greeny out of get up. Like they're all doing the NBA kickoff pre-shows. I wonder what that's about. Is it strictly because

what Turner does is just so you know acclaimed and notable and so goddamn good well and they also have like the resumes like we always talk about people who i mean and biz and wayne gretzky also like shaq's one of the best big men of all time kenny is he won two championships back to back yeah but charles barker never won championship nobody ever says that to chuck no no never all you can say to chuck and he i feel like there's always something between their conversations like the last one was chuck telling the guy in the crowd like he would have been his stepfather when he's gonna fuck your mom

fuck your mama like that he said that in a positive way by the way it wasn't like a burial it was like a jokey jokey but that that show is just solidified. And then literally the next night, ESPN has to try to create their own. And then, you know, it's alternating. Yeah. And in the NHL, it's the same exact thing. Turner, then it's ESPN, then it's Turner, then it's ESPN. It's fascinating because, you know, there's somebody out there that is really into it. Like, hey, our show outperformed this show and our numbers did this and our numbers did that.

I'm enjoying the playoffs of these two sports that we wouldn't normally, you know, cover as much because they're carrying us. But I think it's been electrifying. ESPN and Turner having the NHL is so much better for the sports world. Not that everything ESPN does or everything Turner does is great. But the fact that it's back even in the conversation of everybody is cool. Because whenever we were just talking in these microphones and nobody knew what we were talking about because the NHL tried its best to be impossible to find. That was a little bit of a dark days for the sport of hockey. It feels like everything's going much better.

But like I will watch hockey if it's on ESPN or on TNT. Like I'm not going out of my way to find it on NBC Sports Northwest or like if you might say most houses do like, you know, ESPN is just on for a good portion of the day. So you will just buy like osmosis. You will watch this stuff. And then when the product is actually good, it's like, all right, well, fuck it. Nothing else is on. I'll watch this again on Thursday.

Hey, Tampa's a wagon, huh? Who's going to stop the Tampa Bay Lightning? They get three to four days rest too here, right? With the clean sweep. They just swept the President's Trophy winning Florida Panthers. The President's Trophy is given to the club with the best regular season record. And Tampa did it without arguably their best player, at least their second best player for the entire series, Braden Point.

Fucking wagon boys. This will be a three-peat, right? Oh, yeah. That was the first time Florida had been shut out all season. First game. Yikes. First game. What on the series had been shut out all season. First game. Yikes. First game. What on a series were there shut out no wins?

They were shut out in the game to send them into the offseason. They get shut out. That's a tough way to end, especially after you are the champion of the President's Cup with the best regular season record. But now everybody's going to call them chokers. It doesn't matter in big time. How's McJesus doing?

I heard he's having a pretty good playoffs, right? Insanely good. He normally doesn't matter in big time. How's, how's Mick Jesus doing? I heard he's having a pretty good playoffs, right? Insanely good. He normally does it. He, he has struggled a little bit. He, he tends to put up points, but his team can't get out of the first or second round this time.

Oh, it's Aaron Rogers situation. Yeah. He is. Kirk Cousins situation. Correct. Floating around out there. Yeah.

He's in the dangles. It's like a ridiculous. I have pucks on a string for old Mick Jesus. What team's that? Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers. See if heucks on a string right now for old Mick Jesus. What team's that? Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers. See if he played for a team that mattered like the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Bruins.

Maybe the Bruins. Bruins stink. No, I don't know. We're going to get Malcolm this offseason, so I'm not worried about it. Well, I'll tell you what. If they blow this series, Connor might be playing for somebody else real soon. Let's go. Get him.

Boom. Coming to Pittsburgh. Boom. Coming to Pittsburgh. The next one. Coming to Detroit. No, he to Pittsburgh. The next one. No, he wants to get to at least the playoffs, so he matters. He wants to play with Sid for a little bit before Sid's done. Yeah, because you imagine Sidney Crosby and McJesus are the same team.

What? They're both coming to Detroit. Sorry, Gino. Sidney Crosby's not going to fucking Detroit. He'll say, send me to Newfie before you send me to Detroit. You probably would want to play on a line with Stoner now that I think about it. Stoner hasn't played. Wow, that's the issue.

Is Stoner back next year or not? I hope so. Ten games a year. I thought you were done with the Golden Knights. Well, if they get fucking Mick Jesus, I'm right back on board. Listen, if Mick Jesus turns this thing into a Mick success up there for the Oilers, they're probably going to stay there. But if it continues to be a Mick disappointment,

Mick Jesus coming to Pittsburgh is something I am all about. Mick would fit in great in Boston as well. In Pittsburgh as well. What are you even talking about? I don't know. I just feel like Mick David is more of a Boston guy. Why do you think that? Because he wants to play for an original six franchise

that has been there from the beginning. And unfortunately, the Penguins just aren't one of those teams. No, no, no. The Bruins are. He played his junior hockey in Erie right up the road. Got him. Yeah, and we actually created the skates that you motherfuckers are skating on. Oh, bar?

You're welcome. Bar? You like steel, dude? Yeah. What, were they skating on plastic? Maybe. That original six? Bob, you are.

We fucking birthed hockey. We birthed ice skating. You're welcome. If you go to the Pens, you automatically get to fucking live with Mario for a year, and who doesn't want to do that? Yeah. Learn from the best. Bingo.

Checkmate, motherfucker. Really? Because McDavid, I heard, loves how David Pasternak plays. No. It sounds like them two on the same line, they probably both score 50 goals a year. Quick follow-up. Can somebody tell the world what McJesus is? Connor McDavid, if you don't follow hockey.

Connor McDavid, Canadian kid, supposed to be the next one, right? Yeah, he is at this point. He is the next one. world what make jesus is connor mcdave you don't follow hockey connor mcdave a canadian kid supposed to be the next one right yeah he is at this point he is the next one he's the fastest guy on the ice on any given night he's got dangles for days he can score how old oh boy probably what mid-20s now 25 26 something like that he's always been with the oilers yeah yeah and they stink so let's get him off of that team let Let's get him to Pittsburgh. Or the Broads. 25 years old? How's his contract situation? He's maxed. He's making probably 11 or 12 a year for the next four, five, six years.

11 to 12 a year? Let's fucking get that. Give this guy $30 million a year. Come to Pittsburgh, dude. What the fuck? What are we doing? Let alone the taxes in Canada. That guy ain't making nothing.

That guy's making a million bucks a year. Make Jesus get him to America. At the beginning of the year, October 27, 2021, this article said he was in his fourth year of his eight-year, $100 million contract. Fuck! It's going to be hard to get him. We can back it up for him.

From what I've heard, by the way, Edmonton, probably a great place. I heard it's blue-collar, Rust Belt place. I've heard that about Alberta. Is that not a battle of the Rust Belt? Old Gumpy just gave a nasty look with his four chains on. No, no. Very, very blue-collar. Edmonton and Calgary. Look at those.

Oh, shit. It's fucking hockey season. That's right. Got the ice around the neck. Gotta do it. Did Ladd tell you that someone tried to snatch his chains? Where? Tin Whistle?

Alleyway by my apartment. Oh, that bum on the bike that I saw? He wasn't on a bike, but I think it was that bum. Did you fucking hit him with a left? Hit him with a right? I was walking past, and I saw him look at the back of my neck, and I knew what was coming. I heard the footsteps, and he was pretty frail, so I kind of just turfed him and fucking hit the road.

Jack, I was gone. I was fucking gone. Did this really happen? Oh, yeah, it was Friday night. I was walking to meet Connor. So you're walking, you're shining. Yeah. There's a couple lights in the back alley that are hitting and glistening off the thing.

Heading to Tin Whistle. About to get your little sing-along? No, this is pre-Tin Whistle. We were going to have a little dinner, watch Smackdown. Over at the Oakmont. Over at the Oakmont, exactly. You guys are heading to the Oakmont. Kind of doing the thing.

You're on your way over there. And some bum tries to come get your four chains. That is such... So you Heisman'd him? It was just like a kind of sweep. He was pretty frail. I felt the grab. I never guessed. He felt the grab and I kind of just fucking...

What was he going to do, you think? He was going to rip those off and go sell them immediately? There was a concern. There's been some bad news in downtown lately. I hit the dust pretty quick as soon as it was over what's he talking about i don't know there's been some stuff going on downtown a lot of cop cars yeah he's been sitting with lately yes to be honest yeah i look i don't know shooting where you guys are i don't know the exact details not where we're hanging out but

the cops have been pretty busy they're earning their keep that's what a way to describe a city currently in unrest it sounds like yeah cops have been pretty busy yeah and i don't think it's gonna slow down this weekend because it's gonna be imagine if you had your headphones on you didn't hear the foot uh footsteps coming up you could hear the footsteps how could you feel i always only have one ear but then even if i do it's just because i i always think about stuff like that do you think about delivering a yeah yeah like a stunner i just fucking tried to get him to the ground as quick as i could and then i was shot out of a can and i was oh you ran from i wasn't sticking you didn't talk shit no i was gone oh no how often do you get this situation real life life. We're going to dive into the cop cars.

I mean, there was somebody got. Today. Like when I picked Gump up today, they were already out and about. It was 830. There was four of them in the tunnel. Four guys, four cop cars. Like, Jesus Christ, it's Tuesday. What's going on right now?

Go through that tunnel. Yeah. Go through that tunnel. I mean,. Don't go through that tunnel. I mean, he was sweating bullets by the time he got up there. What happened? I just got a tap from Boston. Somebody almost robbed me and I ran. All right, let's go get some espresso martinis.

That sounds like a good idea. Jesus. Glad we're airing this out right now. I didn't know this happened. You should have bounced that guy's head off the concrete after. Are you kidding me? How often do you get that opportunity? I don't know this happened. You should have bounced that guy's head off the concrete. Are you kidding me? How often do you get that opportunity? I don't know.

I always think the worst, so I just got out of there. Anyways, happy you're okay. Happy the chains are okay. Only had two on. I would not like people to judge the city of Indianapolis off of that. Sure. Incident that happened with Duffy. Follow up. There does seem to be some fuckery that's happening around No. Incident that happened with Duffy. Follow up.

There does seem to be some fuckery that's happening around the city. Some stuff going on down there. Shout out to the police department because they're crushing it right now. Except for the guy that decided to shackle me. Oh, he doesn't work anymore because he was driving drunk and crashed into a car. Oh, okay. So, hey, they got the bad eggs out there. Yes.

Even more so. Everybody else there. Every other police officer that I've met from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has been nothing but the very nice try to take care

of society. There's obviously some situations I don't know of that have probably taken place where people are like, oh, these are,

but the person I just so happen to get accosted by at 4 a.m. on a fucking Wednesday morning or Tuesday morning is, I guess, the biggest asshole of all time. He's gone now, I guess.

Massive prick. And I mean, when the Indianapolis Marathon was going on, all those police officers. Super nice. Yeah, very cordial. Super nice. Fire department, super nice. Oh, yeah.

Just been very busy. Yeah. Yeah. A little too busy. Police been too busy. Yeah, I mean, way too busy. Tuesday. Joining us now is a guy who tries to stay busy,

but then he boozes and forgets he's supposed to be busy, and then he leaves shows like ours out in the middle of a wasteland of nothing. Right. Bullshit. Senior NFL insider for the NFL and the NFL Network live. Boots on the ground at the league meetings right now in Atlanta. I don't know where they are. He might have been in a layover in Atlanta.

I think it's Atlanta. He was in the Delta Club, so it was before he left the airport. He did this just yesterday. For two days in a row, ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rapoport. Rap, what's up, pal? What's up? I actually lied to you yesterday. I didn't mean to, but I did.

I was not in Atlanta. I was on my way to Atlanta, and then my flight got delayed for five hours, and I was eventually there, but much later. So I would never want to be not truthful with you. So I wanted to come clean on that. Well, that's very nice of you because we know you would never mislead anybody or give any misinformation at all. Like contracts or who's interested in who or whoever's that. You would never do that.

Not you, not in that suit at least. Maybe other people, but not me. No. Well, we're happy you got on the flight. We're happy you're safe. We're happy you got to the league meetings. How's the energy? How's the vibe? Is everybody there? This is the middle of OTAs. It seems like a pretty poorly timed thing. Are coaches there?

GMs there? Who's all there, Ian? So, these league meetings are usually pretty sleepy, right? It's May, and there's not a lot that needs to happen, right? Because generally, rules are usually like pretty sleepy, right? It's May and there's not a lot that needs to happen, right? Because generally rules are kind of in place. And you know, I would say sometimes there's like a couple different odds and ends that need to be handled. But usually, these meetings are kind of perfunctory and short. This is a little different. And honestly, it's kind of awesome. Because of the NFL's accelerator program with diverse minority coach and GM candidates.

There are more than 40, more than one per club, more than 40, you know, minorities who are rising young coaches or GM candidates. And they're all here and mingling with owners and sitting at the table, sitting in on the meetings. So you ask about the energy, like, it's pretty awesome. It's been really fascinating, not just for me, but for a lot of these young coaches and GM candidates who get exposed to stuff they don't usually get exposed to. Who saw Goodell talking on Good Morning Football this morning? Seemed like he was optimistic about it all.

Now he's going to have to be because he represents the entire league. But it felt like the way he was speaking about it was like a lot of good actually happened in that regard. They've been trying to figure out be because he represents the entire league. But it felt like the way he was speaking about it was like a lot of good actually happened in that regard. They've been trying to figure out how to do this the proper way with the entire pipeline, I believe is the conversation. There's only so many jobs. He really feels like this is something that is working and something that

they're going to continue to do in the future. It's like a job fair, almost like a networking festival, almost for people. Yeah. It's kind of like a networking festival. Like there's some, you know, speed dating is not a great term for people yeah it's kind of like a networking festival like there's something you know speed dating is not a great term for it because that sounds kind of lame but there was a thing where like an owner sit at a table and then different you know rising executives or coaches sit with these owners and just talk and this is one of the criticisms of the way the owners hire is because a lot of times they just hire the people

that they know or the people that they know have are you know familiar with well that leaves out a significant portion of candidates a lot of times diverse or minority candidates so now no one has that anymore now owners are meeting a whole new pool of people they're realizing that the pipeline is actually pretty strong a lot of good young candidates and i hope it makes a difference and it seems like the owners here are taking it very seriously which is really kind of the only thing that matters so they're not it's not an interview it's just a conversation and how has there been guidelines given on like how it's allowed to go what it's supposed to do or is everybody like hey play it cool and dan snyder's like no i'm gonna fuck it up like how you know what i mean like how how how did they judge it just put everybody in a room and said figure it out was there like actual

you know like expectations on what this should be or how because the way i think there's the way about it was super yeah like hey it was he thought there was a chance it would be like a dance where a lot of people would be on one side of the room, people would be on the other side of the room. He said that wasn't the case at all. He saw talent everywhere and everybody talking, and it sounds like a smashing success. Now, Goodell has to say that, but it honestly felt as if it wasn't,

he would have found a way to talk around it. Is that kind of what took place, and what was the expectation going in, you think, by everybody? Okay, well, let's start with the second part. There was, from some of the really like top candidates, some of the guys who've been there have either been head coaches or have interviewed for jobs. I know there was some sort of eye rolling among the candidates, like, why do we have to do this? So yes, there was that. But it seems like, at least I'll say this, the people I've spoken with are pleasantly surprised about how good it's

been, the conversations they've had, the fact that the owners have sought them out to get to know them. So I know Roger Goodell mentioned the sort of middle school dance part of it. From the candidates I've spoken with, it hasn't been like that because owners have sought them out and been like i want to hear i want to hear you and like that's you know all the criticism about the way that owners have hired is like they only hear from a certain population so we see the same teams interview the same like six candidates hopefully this year it's not like that yeah and if a team like every team's in there, right? You said, because if you have an opening five years from now, maybe two years from now, three years from now,

the hope obviously is, oh, fuck, I remember what's his face or her face that I met in Atlanta, the place that Ian Rapport was five hours late for. And then I got a chance to chat. Like that's the spark, right? That's know you the networking a whole part of it is going right yeah or you just remember like you know i was just talking to one of the young guys about this now like the hope is you just like maybe the owner remembers just you like the one meaningful conference like you struck something with him where he's like all right this is a

dynamic young guy. If I have to hire someone, this is going to be my guy. And, you know, there's that. And then there's other, you know, let's say there's certain teams where people think that, you know, maybe a coach is on the hot seat or maybe like, you know, this might be the last year. Like I would say people are interested in talking to those owners, whoever that might be. So there's a lot of interesting dynamics here. And it's been kind of fascinating to watch all this who thought of this idea will anybody ever get to credit because it feels like they were probably trying to figure out the right answer how they can change the entire thing this feels like a proper next step I mean I guess

results will tell us in the future but it's this in Roger Goodell once again one of the greatest orators that we have. They're literally one of the best speakers. If he wanted to, he would have been able to get into politics because he can say nothing while saying 15 minutes of shit. He's very, very talented. He's obviously the best commissioner in all sports. Quite a compliment. That is.

And he knows it, too. That's why he is who he is. I've seen him firing squad in a team meeting room right before lockout like right before lockout came in and was supposed to answer questions that anybody had interesting yeah and i saw him working and i'm like fuck this guy this guy's unbelievable because there were some heated questions that were like how come you don't just tell the owners to like let us keep fucking working and you know the way he went about answering it i was like that's a good question and that came from a very intimidating person and roger goodell just like maestro through and we were all like okay that makes sense and then we got fucking locked

out a year after and it was like goodell had you could answer all the questions i've never seen it was one of the most impressive things i've ever seen just the room control the way he goes i think every press conference he does he does an incredible You know, he's guiding and he's the shield for 31 billionaires who have the biggest league on earth. You're going to have to be talented. That's why every time we see Manfred's league, we're like, how is that guy the fucking commissioner of that league or whatever? Goodell dunks on him.

But the way he spoke about it, it feels like they're very proud of it. Hopefully the results will come and only time will be able to tell. Now let's move on to another interesting decision. Combine stays in Indy two more years. I know you're happy and all the bartenders around town are happy, and all the bottles in Indianapolis are scared because the NFL spring break will continue to be in Indy for the next two years. Was this something that was going to happen?

And do you think in two years from now there's actual shot that this could move? Because I know Dallas is building an entire like what, Jerry World type complex down there. LA is probably going to be built up a little bit. Other places are going to want this, right? Yeah, I mean, I would say, well, a couple of things. Yes, I think everyone

seems very happy that it's going back to Indy. You, I felt like you kind of had this yesterday a little bit. Did you get a feeling it was staying? Yeah, we had some sources. We had some sources around town. It seems like you were kind of on it. Wow.

But it was, you know, there was so much, like, so much nervousness, you know, before the combine last year about it moving and what's going to be in Dallas, whatever. And it felt like the public really rallied around Indy in a way that, like, I like Indy, so it shouldn't be that surprising. But I didn't think the public really cared where the combine actually was, but they do.

They do. They want it to be in Indy. The people, like, our people, media people, teams, like, they like what's familiar, and Indy does a good job. I thought it was a good move. I think it was right. Could it move in the future? I would say possibly.

You know, Dallas would be one of the top candidates for a spot because they got great complex. You know, the medical part would be hard, but I think they could figure it out, especially if they have medical facilities really close by. So Dallas would be the spot. I'm just, I don't know, like somebody would have to do a very, very good job to wrestle it away from Indy now. What else is coming out of these meetings? Voting for Dan Snyder to no longer be an owner? It doesn't seem like that's coming, these meetings.

Oh, we thought that was real. That's not real. That's fake. I mean, the investigation is not over, and the Congress thing about all the potential alleged financial improprieties is still ongoing. Hard for me to see any conclusion before, like, the investigation's over

and Congress sort of announces their findings. So maybe, but not going to be. I don't, unless there's something that I just literally am missing, which is possible, I don't think it's going to be today or any time in the near future. The Pro Bowl stuff was interesting. Did you like that? I saw you break that about how, you know,

I think you pitched a seven-on-seven or a flag football or something like that. The NFL is discussing the Pro Bowl week and ways to improve it, including possibly eliminating the traditional game and using the Sunday to showcase players in it. Essentially, what are the alternatives? Ian, I have gone on record numerous times about alternatives and what I think would be better is somebody that played in it, experienced it, was let down by the entire thing,

and now a fan and hate watching it. So I think there's a lot of ideas, a lot of of big-time brains i think it should become a skills challenge you know i think that should happen and there should be actual prizes and awards and match to donations get the speed back get the long ball back get the quarterback carousel back get hey have the kickers kick against each other punters against each other have the whole have it be a celebration of talent with actual prizes and a charity side on side. That's what I think should happen. I think that we might see some of that.

Everybody really likes the skills challenge, and, I mean, so do I. I think it's, like, really fun to watch. So we might see some of that. I think a seven-on-seven is possible. Better question for me is, like, what are the linemen going to do? I mentioned, not that anyone cares about my opinion. I mentioned just miking them up and having them like sit there and maybe having a water in a cup and just commenting on the seven on a seven game.

That would be fun. Or dodgeball. Could you dodgeball with the lineman? Kickball? Well, something like that. Just let the lineman go sit at a bar and just give him a free tap. I mean, I wasn't going to say it, but like that. Just let the lineman go sit at a bar. Yeah. And just give him a free tab. I mean, I wasn't going to say it, but like, yeah. Mic him up at a bar. Mic him up. Let him watch the game. I don't know.

Don't even mic him up. I think just naming them to the. Just set him to a bar. And then like the NFL covers the tab. Yes. Give them a nice room. Give them a tab. Have the camaraderie.

Celebrate. Celebrate the fact that they're pro bowlers. Like, hey, you were at the top of your thing. Maybe have some legends come in. Go ahead and mingle. Do your thing. Drink with them. Yeah, just let the old linemen drink.

The fact that they got a fake act like they're, they have to be so mad. Now that I'm thinking about it, the offensive linemen have to fucking hate the pro bowl so much. I got to put this whole fucking thing back on again and get into a goddamn... And I'm not going to try. And then there's one asshole, Max Crosby, who's going to try to get this defensive MVP or whatever, which is what Max

did in his city, in his town. You've got to do what you've got to do. Let them just drink. Have a good time. Let them just have a good time and celebrate the fact that they're Pro Bowlers. They're the best of all time. Let's go. Beer counter. Yes.

I feel like they should have some sort of smoking competition or grilling competition. Lyman liked to grill, right? I would like all these guys who are very good at football and also good at eating. I think that would be – I'd like to watch that. They should also have a smoking competition, I think. Like not food. I'm talking like maybe. Oh, I'd like to watch that. It should also have a smoking competition, I think. Like, not food on Sockton Lake, maybe. Oh, I don't condone that. Well, you're a booze-hon, so nobody really –

Take your poison. The hypocrisy in your statement is vast, but we won't talk about that. It would be nice to see – maybe see who can perform the best at Cloud 50. Is there an individual case race, maybe? Yeah. There we go. I mean, gets a case. Now we're talking.

There we go. Maybe it's the AFC keg versus the NFC keg. There it is. There it is. Happy we can do this. Pump for the Pro Bowl. Will Goodell sign off

on this or not? I mean, are we going to be able to get this? Hey, beer Olympics. Beer Olympics. Yeah, will there be a keg race between the offensive linemen or not?

That's a great idea. Do we want to watch the Pro Bowl or do we want it to continue to be what it is? Go ahead. No, you know, it could be like one of those things where they have like the main thing, which would be the 7-on-7 on one channel, and then you go to like the Manning cast, and that would be like beer Olympics. You know, 7-on-7 is going to stink too. Are you thinking about bringing back old players to quarterback and to play?

Or is it a mix of legends and current players? Or is it just the current players? No, 7-on-7 is cool. I mean, that's not – Is it not? I don't know. I don't really watch a lot of it. I don't know.

You're going to get some people to try, some people that don't. I still think you're falling into the situation where nobody wants to get hurt. Yeah. Right. That's a good point. I think that's kind of the thing they're figuring out like if everyone was at the same speed on the same page i think that would be fine and and like all these guys train in the off season so if you're a

receiver in your training that's basically seven on seven i mean there's some more things i don't know i think they could figure yeah but the timing of when the season ends and when the pro bowl is in people some people's training regimens. You know, some people take like a month off. Some people don't. Some people don't take any time off. Some people are always on. It's just a fascinating thing because the NFL is the only all-star or Pro Bowl that happens at the end of season.

Who's that? Was that Goodell saying there's no fucking keg race, Ian? Oh, come on. No, but it was some idiot always calls me when I'm on your show. It's really annoying to me. Neuralink. Yeah, it's Palisero. Probably Palisero. He's in Mexico hanging out.

Is he really? Taking the league meetings off and Neuralink unplugged and went down to Tulum? Well, Goodell's there talking. He tweeted about it. I think there's some sort of anniversary situation. Oh, happy anniversary. Him and his wife, 10 years. Wow.

Wow. Let's go. He's been, what's that called? Severed. Yeah, he's been severed. Bingo. Tom Pelissero is the walking embodiment of the show Severed. Okay.

And he's probably in the factory right now and they're rewiring. No, he's not. No, no, no. He's outside. Okay. Yeah,'s outside Is he? See I mean I've never seen a picture of it He sent me a picture But it was like palm trees

Or a pool or whatever but he wasn't in it There he is again Fucking enjoy your anniversary dude You're unplugged currently from the Neuralink Come on. You don't have to be here. Jeez Louise. Any rules changes or anything else happening here?

This is like minor, but they're going to discuss when, like, for cut down day, does it go to 90 to 53 or does it go from, or 55, or does it go from 90 to 85 to 55? That's another thing that's going to be discussed kind of a minor deal no it's not that's huge for players the multiple cuts is big for players because when everybody gets cut at the same time mostly the guys kind of fall through the wayside because you're trying to collect players when there's multiple cuts other teams can pick up guys that have already been released like okay we need to do this there's more opportunity i think for guys to make teams personally with multiple cutdowns. Yeah, I think that's right. Because now I think about it, like what teams will do is let's say there's a veteran who you respect, but you have to cut. Like you might cut him early. Yes.

Let's say, you know, the 85 cut down to give him a better chance of latching on somewhere. Like I could see that. And we did that. nfl did that last year i think it worked out fine so like my guess would be that's back but well that's another thing that's going to be voted on seven years ago that was just the norm it was like 100 then it was down to this amount you had to get to this number then he had to get to this number then yeah there were all these different like tiers yeah and then they kind of just and then i think covid changed where there's like give everyone as many people as possible because we have no idea who's going to be able to practice. And then there's always the numbers game. You know, you lose a

tight end. Well, we got to cut a corner then to bring in a tight end over here. It's not you. It's us. Literally numbers game. But with that being said, you're probably fucked for the rest of your life. It's nothing to do with you not being good enough. It's just the numbers game. Yeah, it sucks. We lost the tight He rolled his ankle because he wasn't prepared enough. He actually pulled his hamstring too. He wasn't

warmed up. So your dream's fucked with us and we're the only people that knew about you. But we will try to bring you back to the practice squad at some point. Those bottom half of the guys that have on their Twitter accounts and their Instagram right now, NFL player for the blah, blah, blah. And then when there's just one cut, oh, man, that felt brutal to me. But I assume teams enjoyed it because you get more players to choose from. Go ahead, Ty. Rapshie, will they discuss the new Washington Stadium land deal,

or is all of that stuff kind of contingent upon what happens with Dan Snyder? No, I think they'll discuss it. I imagine that's going to be a topic here, and there's a lot to discuss. So a couple things. It was reported to be $ be 100 million it was a lot more than that i'm not sure how much but it was i was told well over 100 million it is in not dc uh it is in virginia and i believe it was 45 minutes away but there's some traffic there so it might be more than that that seems significant and if you know if if you're're DC and you want a stadium, like, was this done to make you notice that? Like, there's some, there's a lot of things to discuss there.

So I would imagine this will be presented. Like, they are going forward as a league as if Dan Schneider will be here. And that is going to be the case until and unless something ends up changing. I just saw something on the internet there. The entire NFL helped Kroenke pay the bill back to St. Louis? I don't have great details on this, but I believe that as they are figuring this out, some of the bills have been paid, and I believe that is the case. Because I thought it got spirited.

I thought it got spirited at the last league meetings where everybody was like, nah, you can pay this yourself, Kroenke. And then did they come around or how that whole thing – was that quiet? Is this super quiet? Because I literally just saw a link. It was like, well, I haven't heard about that since the last league meeting. Yeah, I mean, I don't believe it's fully resolved yet. I just think something needed to get paid.

So, yeah, I don't think we're totally there as far as that being resolved. But, again, like these are the issues when, you know, there are some team presidents here. There are some other people here, obviously the young executives and coaches. When they kick everyone out of the room, that's when they talk about the real stuff. And I would imagine that comes up in conversation. Ian, why don't you get in there? Why don't you try to get in there i would like to get in there i got a good suit on they would probably not want me in there would be my guess oh because the hope is though they come out and leak everything to me after but unfortunately sometimes when the owners go and have these private discussions they do not link

to the media what's that all about loose lipsose lips and ships? Are you the only insider on the grounds right now? No, there's a bunch of reporters. Not a lot, but I would say 10 or 12 reporters here. From all networks? Yeah, so we got a couple on NFL Network. There's a little ESPN.

There's Athletic. There's CBS. There's a bunch of others. Ari Mirov there? No. You guys kicked him out? AirPods stayed at home. Wow. No, that's not a shot.

Jesus. I like Ari. You're wearing AirPods. AirPods is a shot. Ari was awesome on draft night, wasn't he? Oh, yeah. Ari Mirov. That was a draft.

Thank you, Ari. Thank you, Ari. Thank you, Ari. Let's go. We are 15.R.O. Yeah. It's the draft. Thank you, R.E.M.E.R.O. Thank you, R.E.M.E.R.O. Let's go. We were 15 minutes ahead of you guys on TV at some points on the draft spectacular. You know that one where you were sitting on inside because it was too windy outside? He didn't know the picks. Couldn't tip him.

You didn't know. I was very annoyed about sitting inside, by the way. I wanted the view outside. It wasn't awesome. How about us just being able to tip picks live on our thing and you not being able to live on the NFL's network? You know, we all have

limitations with places we work. You know that I'm against pick tipping. Just let people watch the broadcast. So magnanimous. You're sitting in your marble suite at the league meetings. Yeah.

Yeah, and Ari Miroff's just trying to cut his teeth. He used to do fucking real estate. Yeah. I don't want to do real estate anymore. It's out of my camera. He's selling these little apartments to people. I want to be the NFL's inside guy. He's not selling them out of the back of his trunk.

Well, you don't know. I don't think. You have no idea. He had a pamphlet and everything. That's what I heard. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, R don't know. I don't think. You have no idea. He had a pamphlet and everything. That's what I heard. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Ravji, there's a report that next year there's going to be no games that kind of are on each network.

Do you know how the flexing and the schedule is going to work, if that's the case, for the TV? Are they going to know before the season a couple weeks before? Follow-up, yes. I was about to explain. CBS has AFC games. Fox has NFC games, right? That's like notoriously what it is.

And next year, they're all free agents, I guess. Have you learned anything more about this than what we know? Apparently not. Apparently not. Connor, wait until we get to the real world. Break it. Yeah. Wake up.

Sorry, we'll tell you. Hey, why don't you come on the show more? We'll tell you more stuff that's happening in the sport that you're the insider of. I mean, I learned a lot about the combine and Indy yesterday. I was informative. That's what we're saying. Like, it's starting to become a little bit of us telling you what's going on. You know what I mean?

And that's not how it's built. I mean, that was some, I don't know if that's going to be the case, but let's assume for the sake of this discussion that it is, we're kind of going there anyway. Right. I mean, I don't know. I'll say this, like the fact that Fox gets the,

like, you know, NFC East games and I will, something would have to be very, something would have to change for them to relinquish control of that. But we'll see. I mean, if that is the case,

that would be extremely interesting. We had some news here on the business front. Lachlan Murdoch, who I'm not sure if this is Romulus or Kendall Roy. Sure. No, it's Kendall. So Lachlan's Kendall? Eisen called him Kendall on the Rich Eisen show, from what I hear. So I think that's probably what we'll go with.

Okay. So Lachlan is a guy who can rap pretty good. Okay. Not good. Has some action. What are you talking about? I thought that was actually pretty solid. I can't deal.

I can't deal with that. L to the OG. Yeah. L to the OG, dude. I can barely watch. He is amazing, but it is so cringy. I want to cover my eyes and crawl into a hole. I agree.

A lot of the things he does, very cringy. The rap, though, was much better than any of us could have expected. I think, honestly, watching it had to have been. These are like your friends, though. I'm learning about your people watching that show. That's why I'm watching a show, so I can learn about your vein of people. Ivy League. Yeah, those people, how weird everybody seems to be.

It's been a nice education course on who I'm doing business with, Ian. That is not my people. Although I have known some people like that, but I would not say that's my group. My people are much more down to earth. The people on my golf trip, those are the same people. Hooker. Yeah, Hooker. Hooker.

Hooker. Drawer. Those are the same people that I was doing the same thing. Hacker. Hooker. Anyways, so Kendall Roy has come out and said to Sarah Fisher that Brady's 10-year $375 million deal, those figures are directionally right. So it's an overall fund,

I think, for him to be a steward of the game or whatever, or what are they calling him? An ambassador of the game and also calling games. So this is Fox saying even if he stinks on TV, we're still going to have him doing a bunch of stuff that is going to be worth a lot more than that. Is that what your feelings are and thoughts are on that?

First of all, there's no way he's going to be bad on tv because brady is agreed he likes football and when he could be when he i have i have a feeling it'll be like romo where you feel like you're just chilling watching a game with him sitting on the couch and i think brady will be good the funny thing to me is it's blacked out all right i don't hear the bottles clanking around all right what well corona tone you know corona tone made some statements at a charity event in connor's time yeah and changed everything about the view of the office on tony remon not me my peers in this office i did not hear this we'm not up on this we don't want to i don't want you to know because there's no reason for you to know it is a personal thing with this office in tony romo tony romo though if you were to do a overall drawing i think of his likeness

in the nfl audience world i think beginning real big okay we love sony romo then you know he got the super bowl big payday and a lot of people said he got a little comfortable kind of mailed it in i think not me i'm just telling you the internet what i'm reading and hearing now tom brady i feel like he's gonna come in and probably just take over like everything he does right i mean he took over nutrition and just started opening facilities everywhere eating avocado ice cream i think he's going to be great but him just being associated with the league and with fox is worth way more than 37 and a half million dollars a year in my eyes personally i mean it's we like we always say with quarterbacks

like you know every like people would talk about br about Brady being underpaid for years with the Patriots. Yeah, they're all underpaid. How much has Patrick Mahomes worked to the Chiefs? I don't know. $200 million. Whatever you could pay them, it's not enough. You're so front office leaning. I cannot

take it. $200 million. Do you think Patrick Mahomes is worth for the Chiefs? Chiefs had Brady Quinn thrown picks against my team whenever I was playing against the Chiefs just five, six years ago. Now they're on prime time. No offense, Brady Quinn. The team was bad around you. No, Brady Quinn.

Brady Quinn caught a stray there. Geez. A guy sitting on his couch watching this show on the internet and being like, what did I do to this guy? Brady Quinn's probably working out right now. He is not watching this show. When I was there, I actually saw it. I was on the internet and being like, what did I do to this guy? Brady Quinn's probably working out right now. He's not watching this show. When I was there, I actually saw it. I was on the field when it happened.

They were not in a great place just not that long ago. Now with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey and everybody, they're on primetime television every single weekend. Everybody wants to be a part of the Chiefs' kingdom now. Yeah, I meant $200 million per year. You can't pay him no no like

you know he's making 45 now whatever it is like he's worth exponentially more um what's kind of funny about the the lock on murdoch thing is fox actually came out and denied andrew marshall's report when he said 375 million and now they're saying like yeah it, it's basically right. I mean, that's kind of right. I like to see you going to bat for Marshawn there, huh? That's like the insider when you're, you know, I saw you just get a little sense of gratification there for old Andrew Marshawn, New York post. I think the reason why they were able to say it wasn't accurate is because it

wasn't exactly being reported exactly how they view him and how much in the booth was worth versus how much being a ambassador of the game. That's amazing. I wonder if Troy Aikman was like, I would have fucking ambassadored him. Yeah. I was out here if you needed me to. Whatever you need me to do if you want to add another 20 onto this thing. Last question for you, Ian.

We appreciate your time while you're very busy down there in Atlanta. Go ahead, Tom. Still some bigger name wideouts left on the market. Julio, Odell, Will Fuller. Are we seeing any action on these guys? I think we are not right now. Teams are talking about it. We've talked about maybe, let's say, a team like the Packers, like Ravens.

Both of them I could see adding a veteran receiver. You know, those names, the Rams might add a veteran that might end up being Odell. I would imagine teams that get through OTAs and see if they can lock up one of these guys before mandatory minicamp just to give them a little taste of the playbook. Send it to, you know, give them the playbook for the summer and kind of close it out from there otherwise like you're probably talking a couple of these guys maybe signing before camp or what happens sometimes during the year is just one of these guys waiting for an injury and being like if someone gets injured i will force the team to pay me what i want because a team will have to sign me. There'll be a couple where some of these guys will be signed

late and then become key parts of the team but only because the team lost someone and has to pay a veteran receiver. L to the OG. Rapport, we appreciate you, man. That was a hell of a... I mean, I thought it went

much better than anybody could have expected when that scene started. Oh, yeah. Great fit. No. You took the jacket off. Yep. It looked awesome. What do you have, like a John Cena, WrestleMania, SummerSlam type show?

Yeah. You watch that show? You love that show, huh? You're like, oh, my people are finally getting spotlighted. No. I do like the show. But, yes, there are some parts when I just can't they're all so bad

they're just terrible that's what we're talking about that's what we're saying you're a people I'm against all of that by the way on the record against that you're Greg, this guy's Greg you're such a hero dude

we appreciate the hell out of you Ian thank you for joining us back-to-back days. Let's, you know, I don't know if you're going to break any more news today for maybe a third appearance in three days this week, but how long is this meeting for? How long is this for? Through today, and then I leave to head back home tomorrow. All right. Well, safe travels.

Enjoy the booze down there. Atlanta. Oh, Atlanta. Watch out for the snow. Be careful. A lot of snow down there, Ian. A lot of snow down there. You venture outside of that hotel down there. Atlanta? Oh, Atlanta. Watch out for the snow. Be careful. A lot of snow down there, Ian. A lot of snow down there. You venture outside of that hotel right there, you're going to have four to five people

with a whole blizzard in their pocket. Be careful. Looking to see if you want a little sunshine in your face. Want to go skiing? Yeah. Hey, you want to go ahead and take a little trip to Wide Awakeville. That happens down there, too, man. Yeah, me neither. It's not my thing, but I am the type of guy where people pitch it to me all the time, I guess.

Especially in Atlanta, where you are now. Enjoy yourself. Be safe. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappaport. Yay! Jordan is now a man who never misses, does he? No, never.

Yesterday, he took the opportunity to go ahead and make fun of one of his closest friends and his immunized status and everything like that. A guy who is not only a college football national champion a super bowl champion a rider cup champion and a covid survivor wow that kind of just gets thrown in there at the end but that's almost the main event yeah what about it man ladies and gentlemen aj hawk how you doing aaron great what i didn't never heard about Goop getting rolled by a messed-up bum. What happened? Just heard about this in the first hour as well. We spent the first 15 to 20 minutes chatting about it.

He had his four chains on, heading to the Oakmont, which is a local establishment here. Great bar, great food. Unbelievable. Quite a walk, though, for Gumpy. Great service. Had to go through an alley. Somebody ran up on him, tried to grab his four chains.

Gumpy hit him with the Heisman the guy hits the ground Gumpy runs away out of fear of his life doesn't tell him to fuck off doesn't do anything else just classic

chomping of being hospitable to these people oh my god Gumpy's okay did you think your life was in danger at any point there was a thought

yeah yeah because of what's been happening downtown once again a lot of police activity here downtown indianapolis in different alleys and such aj hawk i'm learning from the downtown boys that maybe downtown right now is not the safest place to be but i digress it's only in certain

areas i would assume yeah we're good yeah we're all good right by us but that's it isn't that a scary situation goop i mean if you're wearing if you were wearing those four chains like you're wearing right now you're almost asking for it but But did you feel threatened? They were tucked in. I don't let them out when I go out. They're tucked in. Was the person coherent enough to make you feel threatened? Yeah, like they walked past me. And then came back around?

Yeah. I heard the footsteps. Okay. AJ. I could have ended badly, man. Good for you. For him? What are you talking about?

AJ, this is an opportunity to fucking hoist a guy. You don't get to do this in real life. He's baby face. Gets to punch somebody in public. Baby face. Doesn't happen. Now, I guess you could think maybe he's going to grab his poop with his hand and shove it in your face. Give you some sort of disease or stab you or shoot you or something.

Which I guess does happen around Indianapolis on a regular basis. But I'll tell you what, once you hit a Heisman on him, he falls. The restraint to not even be like, you fucking dipshit. That is amazing to me. The fact that he fell, though, when you just hit him with the Heisman, then you would think, okay, this is a target-rich environment where I can jump on and get some ground. I was just thinking about getting the fuck out of there, dude.

That's all I was thinking about. Hey, we got respect for that. It does feel like a lot of the um you know rocks for brains people around here are having the same thought though like oh this guy just attacked me and cost me tried to rob for me on the street now he's in a precarious situation you gonna learn today is probably what a lot of us potentially immediately think but we're not in a situation you got out out of there safe, got to the Oakmont. Food was amazing.

Unbelievable. Food was amazing. Ice cold Bud Light. Dripping sweat, I guess, though. Dripping sweat. He'd just been attacked by a methed out homeless man. There's a chance if this is the same methed out homeless man that I know, if Gumpy hit him in the face once, he could have died, I think, because he was very, very frail.

Well, we would never want that, of course. Exactly. Not somebody that's going around trying to rob people in our streets and poop all over the place. Not dead, but a lesson should have been sent. Gumby did that with the Heisman. Probably broke his femur. There's not a lot of situations, though, where you're, you know.

Completely in the right. Free hit. Yeah. Well. I mean, there is some other things going through my head. I was going to say. Well, he could have had some buddies hanging around the corner ready to jump goop, though. It's a good thing he got out.

Now we got a 10-piece coming, a bunch of methed out bums. Let me see your ID, son. What were you thinking? What are you talking about? Why do you have a toxic look to your face right now? I mean, a despicable disgust. I mean, Gump and I are on the same page. Was that person wearing a mask or no?

No, it was Connor. You know, let me see your ID. Where do you live? Yeah, if Gump and I are. Yeah, I mean, he talks to the cops. What are you doing here, Mr. Cannati? I have to go through the entire visa situation with the local officer. Oh, you're right.

Okay, yeah, yeah. Well, you see, I'm in the process. There's a whole. It's filed. Good move, Goom. Good move. We like you here on the show. Yeah, just keep it run well.

Jeez. I do have some bad news. And I mean, there's no better time than now, I guess. Yeah, do this. Oh, no. I'm just going to have to go back to Canada for a little bit. No!

No correlation to the bump. By the way, we don't know. He beats the fuck out of that bump. You know what? You made it, know. He beats the fuck out of that bum. You know what? You made it. He's a true American. It's part of the whole process.

He's got to go back for like a month or two or whatever, and then he can come back. It's a whole thing right now. Believe me, it's a whole thing that is going on right now. He is legal. He is 100% okay to be where he's at, but we were told he should probably head back within the next two weeks so that we can continue this process or whatever. Wow. Well, isn't it going to take him three weeks just to get back into the country with all

the quarantines and stuff? It's open now. You're allowed to go back into Canada, right? You're good to go. Are you sure? Yeah. If you're vaxxed, you're good. Yeah.

Okay. Hop on a truck driver. Hop in a truck. Drive back into Canada. There we go. There we go. Massive blow to the Canada. No, he's going to be back

next week he's going to spend the summer in Canada which is good summers in Canada are great yeah exactly hey here we go

Victoria what song is that what are you singing Summertime in Northern Victoria what song is that alright of course it's a good song He's singing Summertime in Northern Victoria. What are we talking about? Do-do-do, do-do. I'm starting to get a fucking winter again.

It's a good song. Anyways, but Gumpy's going back to Canada for a few weeks. We will miss Gumpy, obviously, but excited for the future where Gumpy, potentially, American. Hell yeah. Which is good. It's a whole process. Hey, obviously. I know, man.

I know from other people. I can't believe how the hoops you have to jump through. There's a lot going on. And honestly, I was told by everybody on the internet that now it's just like, yeah, no problem. Come on in. But I guess if you want to get through the entire procedure of it, and I've been CC'd on a lot of these emails, it is. I mean, it is a pretty deep thing. Hey, we need this.

We need this. We need this. Pay us this. We need you to pay us this. Do this. Do this. Do this. Okay.

We're going to go on hold for a little bit. As we put this together, you should go back and then come back. I mean, it's a hole. It's been a nightmare. You have to prove, right? Doesn't Goom have to prove that he brings value to America or something? Yeah, we've already done that. That was like four or five steps ago.

Yeah. A long time. They did not believe it, by the way. That took a couple steps of proving that a few times. You of clips or what what do you do uh i tried to type something up actually and i was told that that is too much they don't care about all that i'm like mistakes were made i'm fucking i think we should have sent my letter by yeah i mean we uh yes i hate to out this but we got absolutely screwed the lawyers that we were told what was the letter i wrote what is that for?

Well, that was a part of it. I wrote a fucking A. Yeah, like what he means to the company, right? Yeah, I wrote like a Billy Shakespeare. And the lawyers that are currently, I think, fucking with us, but we don't know enough about it. Yeah, bamboozlers. They said, we don't need that, okay? Just tell us, bam, bam, bam.

And I was like, is a human making this decision or is it a robot and they're like well it's humans but also we don't need all that stuff and i'm like i just penned a fucking 2 000 word thing about how awesome this dude is and his life could change and everything like fuck you we don't need it now we also need another 10 grand and then we're gonna move on it's like all right after seeing the file that they sent in i mean yeah it was uh rather mickey mouse still gonna happen though which is good still forging forward but this should have been done from what we've been told at least a few months ago and it has not been so what happens though like whenever goop goop spends the summer back there with his

his meatball buds he comes back he weighs like weighs like 285, just absolutely jacked. Yeah, the amount of Tremblone sandwiches that Gumby's about to eat back in Canada. His head looks like Barry Bonds. Are you going to be working out all day, every day? That's all I'm doing. He's going to have five chains on that first one. He's going to be able to fit because his neck is going to be so fucking big. Good for gambling, too, because all he's going to do is look at gambling there, too.

He's in a Canadian cave. When you were in a COVID cave, he'll be even better at Gombling. He could probably do an internship with our buddies. Maranci? Yeah. I don't know if Gompi wants to work full-time for SportsGrid. A couple days a week, he'd pop on. Maybe.

I mean, I don't know. The guy's going through enough both wow anyways god we can't wait for your return pal yeah just a few weeks couple months maybe a year yeah with that a homeless guy doesn't live in your condo while you're gone hopefully the can Canadian homeless people aren't a little bit more abrupt. I don't know if a Canadian homeless who had to grit and bear it through all that winter every single year is going to just take a Heisman and fall.

It feels like they're going to be a little bit more sturdy than this bitch-made fucking bum here in Indy who just tried to run up on you, grab four chains, and get stiff-armed to his death, basically. Canadian bums just like freeze to death in the winter and that's it not a lot of bums and when we were in toronto yeah it's terrible in my hometown really yeah they just sent up tents everywhere downtown jesus christ excuse me come on listen i understand everybody has choices and everybody's three four choices away from being a bum or whatever but don't be trying to rob a guy who's already going through enough. Yeah.

My God. Somebody send this message to the bum community. We're fucking done with it. Bill Belichick was asked about who's going to be his offensive coordinator yesterday at OTAs. We'll be talking to Tom E. Curran in about 16 minutes. He is live on location, representative of NBC Sports Boston. This was his answer about the highly debated offensive coordinator play caller position for the New England Patriots with Mac Jones going into his second year in the NFL.

We asked those two guys about what's the play caller role. Is that what we're calling? What plays are we calling? Many camp plays. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Yeah. That is shit-eating grit, Edwards.

What a stupid fucking question. Yeah, I'm smarter than you. I've got better football knowledge than you. What are we calling? Look at his face. He's so happy to say that. Been thinking about it, by the way. He knows that everybody's chatting about who's going to be the play caller,

who's going to be the offense coordinator. He has had numerous conversations, I would assume, within his circle. Like who's going to be the play caller, who's going to be the offense coordinator. He has had numerous conversations, I would assume, within his circle like, why do we need a play caller right now? Why does everybody think we need a fucking play caller right now? We don't need a play caller. First question, hey, who's going to be the play caller? For what? He's just sitting there, lobbing

out there to call plays. Minicamp plays? Boom! Dunk! I'm Bill Belichick, greatest GM and coach of all time. I assume that he knows better than us, right, dunk on Bill Belichick, greatest GM and coach of all time. I assume that he knows better than us, right, AJ? Bill knows when there needs to be a play caller. Bill knows his staff. He knows his players. He knows his operation better than anybody else.

And he is Bill Belichick, so it's easy to just say he'll figure it out. But why does everybody seem to have such a big problem with this? Because it's never happened like this in the past, you think, AJ? People have an issue with it because he's not giving them all the information like people feel like hey isn't it easy just to tell us what's gonna like what's gonna gonna happen in the season like who's gonna call plays offensively defensively and when he is evasive and he is bill belichick people want to know more i think that's what makes it a bigger story do you i don't know i i think the story was already big before he even gave this. It is because of his resume. Because of what he has

done and all that he has done in the past. I think you are thinking very similar to me. I'm like, well, hey, Bill has a plan. It is not his job to tell us his plan. He should not have to tell us his plan. But also going back to his comment, I love how he handled it. But yeah, they are calling plays. They just script them all.

And they're doing walkthroughs every day. And they're doing all that. And if they do OTAs, they are calling plays. They just script them all, and they're doing walkthroughs every day, and they're doing all that. And if they do OTAs, they are running plays. But yeah, it's not like someone's in the moment, okay, first and ten, okay, now we've got second and seven, what are we going to call it? It's not that like bam, bam. Yeah, and I think at this phase, too, it is literally scripted everything. Ones do it, twos do it, threes do the same exact plays, just shorter.

So great answer. He felt like he had checkmate to the question. He had to feel good about it. Threes do the same exact plays, just shorter. So, great answer. He felt like he had checkmate to the question. He had to feel good about it. Do you think he's leaning towards somebody? Is there actual open competition for Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, and whoever else is on the offensive staff to call plays?

Or is it going to be like how Darius Butler told us the defense, or Kyle Van Nooy told us how the defense, or Nankiewicz told us how the defense is? How literally weekly there's a different play caller almost on the defensive side of the ball because of a different feel, a different scheme, a different strategy against a different team. Some people are better at stopping the run versus the pass. Is that what he's thinking?

Is there any information we have other than us all speculating on what Bill Belichick is doing? I don't think there will be a decision anytime soon. No way. Yesterday he was the one telling Mac to play for the practice. I don't think there will be a decision anytime soon. No way. Yesterday he was the one telling Mac to play for the practice. I don't think that will continue to happen, but I assume it's probably going to be preseason games. We'll go every other.

So maybe Joe Judge does one. Maybe Patricia does one. I still think Bill could be the guy calling the plays. I really do. But we'll see. And it's also who Mac likes, right? Because that, I think, is the biggest part of this whole thing is that he is going into his second year.

The OC that he worked with, McDaniels, was a staple in New England for a long time, and now he has to kind of switch who the OC is. I don't think it's going to be a problem, but, I mean, we're going to find out pretty quick if it is a problem because we'll get blown out by Miami week one. Mac Jones looks incredible. He's got a good jawline, seeming to become an adult there. I believe it was Bourne said he's like a pro's pro now.

He was in the weight room the entire offseason. He looks really good and his stomach is gone. He's in the best shape of his life. That's via NBC Sports Boston Patriots Beat Report, which we'll talk to Tommy Curran here in like 12 minutes. So he got after it. He's changed his body. He knows what the NFL takes now,

what the NFL season is like. Everybody calls him an incredibly intelligent player, a high football IQ, both in the meeting room and on the practice field. I'm excited to see where Mac Jones goes as he continues to become the best version of himself. Justin Herbert, now 245 pounds, 6'6", 245. A photo has surfaced of him looking like a fucking avatar. Everybody's saying he's jacked and he's yoked. Sean Merriman said Herbert might be able to take

a couple reps for Bosa. He might be standing next to somebody who's the same size as Romulus Roy. But that dude looks like an infant next to Justin Herbert, who's got his hair all the way back and has been hitting the weight room all offseason. I like seeing these body transformations. Once guys understand what the NFL calls for, what the NFL takes, how do I become better?

Justin Herbert said, boom, let me go ahead and fucking eat as many protein bars as Bryson DeChambeau and become a freak. I'm happy for Herbert. I'm happy for the Chargers here. I'm happy, too, because it's something that, like, you can work on, like, your durability. It's something you can do. You've got to maximize whatever it is. Like, I say all the time, it's a skill.

Like, durability is a skill that you can work on and you can hone. There's obviously things you are out of control in crazy fluke injuries, but day-to-day, like, if you're consistent with it and you build up enough muscle to where you can last through the whole season, yeah, I think it's awesome. And he looks like what a quarterback in L.A. should look like. He looks, oh, there we go. There's our movie character if we were going to cast a guy

to play the quarterback for Los Angeles football. A little Captain America dropping in to be the quarterback of the Chargers with incredible hair. And, you know, I think my big takeaway from this, and you heard it in Bourne when he was talking about Matt Jones, he lost his stomach. When I would come back after the offseason of training camp, everybody knew immediately whether or not I'd been working

or care at all about football, right? I mean, everybody, if I come in at 250, if I come in at 230, it's too very. So I'm almost trying to get in shape so that when I come back, people are like, okay, this guy was obviously attentive and cares about himself and thinks about the team in the offseason. That's a massive deal that his teammates are seeing Mac, and they're like, all right, Mac obviously dialed in the diet, the workout, fully focused on us being the best we could possibly be,

and Herbert is obviously doing the same exact thing. That's great leadership, AJ. Great leadership. Without being around or talking, being able to see what leadership is, what the standard is, is massive for both of these cultures. Well, don't you think it's cool to see in Herbert? We talk about leadership and how there's different types of leadership. We all know that.

There's rah-rah guys. There's quiet, lead-by-example people that might pull people aside. I don't know exactly what leader Herbert is, but Herbert doesn't, he is so secure in himself. He doesn't feel like he has to be fake and like call in fake huddles and bring the camera in. I like that about him. I think his teammates probably like and respect that the most. He feels like, hey, he's authentic. He can sit there and try to get in front of the camera and show that, oh, no, I'm not like this quiet guy and people think I'm not a great leader. I'm going to go show the camera and make some weird dance and then say, oh, this guy really has control of the team.

Like, no, he's just being him. I feel like his teammates and coaches absolutely responded. They seemed to love the dude. And if you win, by the way. Yeah. Everybody loves you more. That's all that matters. You could be 4'6", quarterback in the NFL,

look like whatever you want to look like. If you can win games, people do not care. It's going to be hard to get a job 4'6". For sure. It's going to be an uphill battle. But once you get in there, once you get in there, you start winning some games. Hey, the next 4'5 quarterback is going to say,

hey, that 4'6 guy was able to do it. I'll be able to do it. That's all it takes. But if the Chargers, how long do you think the Chargers have, you know, before they got a win that people. Do they have to win it all? No, I don't think they're going to win it all, right? I mean, it's going to be tough in the AFC.

Make a run. Especially in the AFC West with how good that team is. But they're going to have to go, right? And I know Staley had his first year last year. And the year before that, they had like six games they could have won. They fucked up. They just fucked it up. At the end, that was Herbert's rookie year. Now he's in his second year. In the year before that, they had like six games they could have won. They fucked up. They just fucked it up. At the end, that was Herbert's rookie year. Now he's in his second

year. Two different staffs, two different operations, but all these high hopes. I mean, Peter King's got him the number two team in the NFL behind the Buffalo Bills. A lot of people view him that way. They're now in the top, what, eight or top six odds to win the Super Bowl. I mean, that's huge

for a team that hasn't made the playoffs, right? A couple years in a row. I don't know when the tide will turn, but I'm loving the Chargers right now. Yeah, and with how much steam they have going into this year, I would assume like it's not – maybe not Super Bowl, maybe not AFC Championship, but if they don't make it, you know, to at least like the divisional round or get one of those buys in the first round of the playoffs,

I think people would be massively disappointed. Staley's still going to go for, you know, is he still going to be the no risk? I think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. Really? I think he's going to change. I don't know.

He seems like a guy that, yeah, I don't know. I mean, doesn't he even say, though, about, like, situations are situations? Like, he decides in the moment for every single, like, he's not just going off a book. Like, he's trusting instincts, too too at the same time, I think. Yeah, he said, I come from the Bruce and Linda Staley coaching tree. So that's where I make my decision. His dad was a high school football coach, I think, for a long time.

And he said he wants to have an exciting brand of football too. Like he wants our fans to know we are an exciting brand of football. That's an actual thought. That's marketing and strategy being in the in the same vein which is good especially if you're in a new city and that city has a team that won the fucking super bowl in that city last year that's going to be tough but if you win you win you win over fans especially in la bandwagoners everywhere um but i hope he's still exciting but there are some decisions he made where

everybody that knows the NFL was like, was the juice worth the squeeze? Was the upside anywhere near what inevitably ended up happening? Because there was like four to five that were terrible for them.

There was three to four that were great for them, but there's four to five that are terrible. It almost sucks the entire juice, not only out of your team, but out of everybody. It's like, ah, no. Every fake punt is a great fake punt if it works. Every fake field goal is a great fake field goal

if it works. Gadget plays, same exact thing. If they work, it's perfect. If they don't, why are you doing all that? That's where they fell last year a lot so i think he'll dial it back maybe be a little bit more calculated in what he goes for and what he doesn't go for but that exciting brand of football is something they're aiming to do so i don't think it's going anywhere for a while you know what else is exciting is you know scoring

points and winning games and as we've talked about on this show, three points is more than zero points. It's not more than six or seven, potentially. Even eight on sometimes. Yeah, three will always be less than six or seven or eight, which is a problem. But always more than zero. Well, how about that? Yes, that's true.

It also, though, it also gives your opponents a little more to think about and work on, too, because if you're a defense, you're like, hey, we don't just have, like, a third and medium package. We may have a third and fourth down. Like, we've got to work on fourth down plays. We're going to work on all these different things. Special teams, obviously, highly alert for the punch,

so maybe they won't rush nearly as much, so it's better for that punter. All kinds of little things that I think over the course of the year may help, like, wear their opponents down. Yeah, anytime the other team thinks or is scared to death that you're going to run a fake, you're in a good spot. You get an extra. And all week, though. But all week when you play those teams,

your coaches are losing their mind every single day of the week. Well, and taking time out of film study, taking time out of practice, taking time out of meetings when they could be focusing on something else, not just special teams. The defense, though, wasting time this week on something that a ghost, you're chasing a ghost almost. They're going to run something, you know, keep alert for something. Well, what does that mean? Well, I mean, they could run a guy in motion here. They could do this entire thing. There's always that you're a hundred percent right. The energy, the time

that is taken away from the other preparation when they think fuckery is potential is huge. It is awesome. It's good for everybody. I can see that. Sorry, finish your thing. I'm sorry. Well, I was going to say, doesn't the defense know you get one fucking fourth down stop that that game changes like this, right? Like while you're calling that huddle, while you're breaking down the play call on that fourth and four or whatever, it's like the 50. It's like, hey, we get a stop on this fuck i don't care what happened on last play we get a stop on this play this entire game is flipped on its head like that's a big moment you know that's a huge huge flip side though you if you if they get

that fourth down and also the defense isn't used to staying on the field for that fourth down too so let's say it's in the middle of a long drive and you know they feel like hey we're kind of wearing these guys down we are absolutely going to go for it if it's fourth and third and anything less than that. And then the defense, like normally your kind of rhythm, you make a big stop on third down. Everyone celebrates, and they run off the field, and the punt return comes on.

Now you can't do that anymore. Those players are like programmed. Everybody's fist goes up. They just look at Staley. Huh? Fourth down? We punt or not? Thank God.

Fucking right. here we go. Let's go ahead and do that. Well, to your point too, though, it seemed like multiple times last year it was one of those situations where they would go for it early in their own territory, not get it. And we've seen them, they will come back,

but it's like, hey, they let the sales out like that and it's like they're dead until the very end of the game where they have to score on four consecutive possessions just to get it close like it really was like big chunks of time where it's like oh you just took them out of the game as somebody who uh called my own fake with the ball being snapped from our own 19 on the first drive and us not completing the pass and them scoring immediately and then putting up another 50 on top of it. Can really swing the game in that first quarter. Can really swing the game in that first quarter.

Let's get to a break here. We'll be back in four minutes with Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston. We complete that though. I think we win the game. There you go. I think that we complete that. We win the game. Lost by 50 though with the incompletion. Got the ball in the 19th. Risk-reward. What does it matter? We the incompletion. Got the ball in the 19th.

Risk-reward. What does it matter? We don't know. First drive. Ball in the 19th. First drive. I'm so pissed. Defense going on the field.

I'm going to be so mad. Not as mad as me that the ball was dropped. I would have been super pissed if I realized, if I look at a special teams coach and I'm like, are we serious?

He's like, hey, I didn't call it. That's on him. If I saw you run off the field. Hey, that was back of me. I'm surprised I didn't serious? He's like, hey, I didn't call it. That's on him. If I saw you run off the field. Hey, that was McAfee. I'm surprised I didn't get punched, but at that point, I was more pissed than anyone. Because, you know,

I didn't get a lot of moments of glory there. That's exactly what happened when they played the Ravens. They were down like 28-0 going into the second quarter. But two weeks before, they beat the Chiefs because they made it. Because they went for it. Such a gomble. It's a gomble, I guess. Yeah.

Farts are gombles. That's right. You know, and that's what everybody needs to understand. We're back and forth with Tommy Kern. We'll see you then. Today's video is sponsored by the best ticket app on planet Earth and the moon. This is your weekly reminder that listeners of this show

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Green means hammer it because it's a great deal. Just remember to hit the link in the description next time you buy some tickets. How did that work, kid? Kyle Redd's a good piece of business there. Joining us now, AJ Hawk to my left, your right. AJ, this is becoming your thing, huh? Long sleeve, black shirt yeah

three-quarter yeah can I see the three-quarter is it tight on the arm or is it loose this one's not tight on your arm this is loose oh it's Louis little baseball if you wanted to get out there and he'll take some hacks like Tom Brady and groggy yeah that video just hit the internet Tom Brady hitting some bombs with Gronkowski out in the outfield I believe Alex Guerrero was there as well tb12 getting some work in. So I'm going to hip rotation. Bats lefty, golfs righty, best quarterback of all time righty, Tom Brady,

taking over the internet, continuing to do so before he takes over the network world. Joining us now, a man who latched his wagon to Tom Brady whenever he left New England and might have caught a couple ricochet shots through doing so. Now has cemented himself as the greatest Patriots coverage in the history of Patriots coverage. Oh, yeah. From NBC Sports Boston, Tom E. Curry. What's going on?

We miss you, Tom. I miss you, too. This is nice. This is out of the blue. Post Brady, you never know when you're going to get a call, but I'm happy to be here. Hey, we're happy to have you. Post Brady, how's life in New England? You finding good footing with Mac and the boys?

Is everybody like Tommy Curran? Are you still on the outs with the Patriots? Because you did very clearly saddle the Tom Brady horse on the way out of town down to Tampa. Is that right, or am I misreading it? No, I mean, I called it as I saw it. We had a little bit of dysfunction from 2017 on. We had cornerbacks getting benched in Super Bowls.

We had, you know, 2019 happened. And so called it as I saw it. I don't think I'm too badly on the outs, but we have a transitioning football team that didn't close 2021 at a real good clip and now we have a lot of questions around the offense which they're trying to figure out it's curious okay so before we dive into who's the offensive coordinator and bill burying somebody yesterday at the press conference it was awesome to watch go to see bill back with the smile on his face the fulfillment that he felt when he was able to deliver the line that he's been waiting for basically that question to come

for the last couple months as the outside world has talked about who's going to call plays. Mack Jones in the best shape of his life. Good jawline. Ready to be there. He's been around town the entire offseason. That's what's being said by the players. Have you witnessed the same, and what are your expectations for him? Yeah, he looked good.

He looked thicker in the shoulders. That was one thing that stood out when I showed up last year and looked at him. First time live, naked eyes on him. Boy, he doesn't look that thick. Now I think he's redistributed a little bit. Bigger in the butt, bigger in the shoulders. I think it's going to help him. He's got plenty of arm strength when he's standing still.

It's just when he's moving around. I did. You have to give a full heels to forehead appraisal, and I saw a bigger butt. It's just when he's moving around. I did. You have to give a full heels to forehead appraisal. I saw a bigger butt. Let's go. Tom, that's good to know. Two-part question here. How much weight do you think he may have gained?

How much muscle did he put on? Also, all this talk about who the offensive coordinator there is. Is there anyone on their staff right now that has called plays for an offense in a game in the NFL? Yes. Billy Belichick.

Hell yeah. And I think, you know, when we talk about Mack and the size difference, I'm not sure how much different his size is. As you guys know, playing in the league, a lot of players want to get up to a certain amount, understanding they're going to lose four to five even six pounds throughout the course of the year i know brady used to like to get to 230 232 and then he would lose as the season went along so i'm not sure what he is in terms of of weight but he definitely redistributed um as for the play calling it was interesting because belichick did indeed and i just retweeted a story about in 1991 bel Belichick calling plays in his first year with the Cleveland Browns.

And when we watched their OTA yesterday, if I had to pin it down, right now Joe Judge is passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach, Matt Patricia, offensive line coach, running game coordinator. And Bill, just off of one OTA in May, was serving as offensive coordinator. Whether that's temporary or until further notice, we don't know. Do you think it's an audition process for Judge Matt Patricia right now for Bill? Do you think Bill knows what's going to happen and just doesn't want the outside noise or pressure or anybody to really give a fuck about it? Here's the thing. I bet he has leanings, Pat. I bet he has leanings.

And he has said this, which is why I'll about it. Here's the thing. I bet he has leanings, Pat. I bet he has leanings, but part of not, and he has said this, which is why I'll borrow it. Sometimes the best decision is making no decision. And I think that that could be the decision. I'll make it when I have to make it. If there's a point at which I have to say, okay, I'm going to do it. I don't feel as if Matt or Joe are going to do it better than me, then that would be the case. But I really think that it is an audition and you do want to have one or the other of those guys be the main play caller. To me, having

observed both guys, they both can be very verbose. So you need somebody succinct, who is quick and to the point with a quarterback. Boys, right? Boys? We don't need a million thoughts. Boys?

Well, Mac Jones' brain, we've heard, is like an incredible one. How much do you think it is because of how smart and level of football IQ that Mac Jones has that Bill's able to do this? I think this is a massive compliment to Mac, by the way, only in his fucking second year, Tom. No doubt. I mean, imagine if it was Zach Wilson or Trey Lance or even Justin Fields, you know, trying to master the way the Patriots offense is run.

All of that experience that he got at Alabama under Nick Saban or Bill O'Brien under Sarkeesian has absolutely translated and put him in a position to succeed here. And even, to an extent share with judge who is the quarterback's coach hey i'd rather do it this way i wonder and that's that's really what's interesting we should get to that is at least with bill not with you guys how much input will mac have in saying how he wants the offense to be run or at least set up. Only in his second year, too. Like last year, whenever we were covering the season,

it felt as if when we were talking about rookie quarterbacks, we were not talking about Mack. We just felt like Mack was like a 90-year-old. Like the way Mack has kind of carried himself, the way he played, I mean the way he acted, it just felt like, okay, this is a polished veteran almost, and he's not at all. I think we all forget about that. I assume Mack is appreciative of that have you noticed anything with him off the field verse when he got the

foxborough verse now aside from the larger pooper and the larger broader shoulders is there any different way he's carrying himself now that he has a season under his belt i think he came in he came right out of the womb as a guy who was completely comfortable in his own skin and with his teammates. And I've seen that even more. I think, you know, just behind the scenes stuff, he's been more involved off the field, been more of a fixture in the community. It's the kind of thing where you see with a young quarterback, whether it's Joe Burrow or Drew Bledsoe or Tom Brady or anybody who's drafted into a place, go ahead and own the

city. Go ahead and be the guy who feels as if he's going to run that franchise because that's the quickest way to get yourself to a $45 or $50 million a year contract is to go ahead and make yourself... Invest. Invest. Invest in the city. Be the city.

Yeah, I think that's the case as well, especially for the newer guys that are getting in there and trying to cement themselves learn about the people that you're about to represent every single sunday i think that is a very very real thing and matt jones he came in to watch preseason game in the place went nuts ape shit yeah and it was like i feel like that love has continued which is awesome good aj tom what about the defense we're not hearing as much about the defense i know with Belichick's involvement with the offense, he's usually heavily handed with the D.

Do we have any idea of the balance he's going to have? That's really a key question, AJ, because when you look at the situation where the Patriots closed the season losing 47 to 17 and not forcing a punt with the Bills in the playoffs. Same thing. They didn't force a punt in their last regular season meeting.

So they're that far behind this division. So they took care of Jacksonville real good. Well, we didn't. We didn't. We fucking. I was just like, yeah, Tom, please, back to what you were saying. 50-10. And the Patriots beat them, and you guys.

Come on. Talk about the defense. You guys didn't get a punt on Buffalo. They are completely reconfiguring the defense. They're doing away with the big 250-pound linebackers, even though Vannoy was a productive guy last year, and Hightower and Collins were there. They're kind of fumigating the linebacker room. They want to get faster. They need to get faster.

Because if your main competition is Tyreek Hill and jalen waddle in miami and josh allen and stefan diggs you can't be hey we have 180 iq defense but we're not very fast you gotta get faster and that's the vision is steve gonna run that thing i know he asked and he said he doesn't care what his job is what his title is he is obviously direct descendant from the we don't fucking tell the media anything tree. But you see him get a more prominent role from watching these OTAs. And can you really learn anything from these first couple of practices? I couldn't learn anything from watching the defensive stuff. And I actually locked in on the offense to see where Bill was.

And Bill was really the coordinator for that. But I think it's a combined thing with him and Gerard. You know, Steve is the defensive play caller but i think gerard gerard mayo does more of the the game planning um and designing than that we really are giving him credit for and that's why he's getting a lot of these opportunities to be a head coach again it's wild because bill when he came here 20 years ago said look, look, I learned my lesson. I'm not going to be trying to wear all the hats. I'm going to delegate.

Now, 22 years later, he's got every hat in the building on. Yeah. Yeah. He's like Bill O'Brien down there in Houston. Literally. You know, down there. It didn't work out for Bill, obviously, but O'Brien. But it has worked out for Bill Belichick.

And before Connor, obviously, can't wait to chat with you, you know, whenever you two start, yeah, the wicked mass whole shit you guys start doing there. How, like inside of New England, do you guys view it the same way we do? Which is like, ah, it's Bill Belichick. Like Bill Belichick will figure it out. Bill Belichick, greatest coach and GM of all time. Bill Belichick will figure it out. I, and Connor's like that, right? Connor is all in, Bill will figure Bill Belichick will figure it out. And Connor's like that, right?

Connor is all in, Bill will figure it out, Bill will figure it out. But that's kind of like the same, I think, view on this whole offensive coordinator thing. It's like, you think you are smarter than Bill Belichick in football? Cool. Like Dan Orlovsky, you think you know the quarterback position better than Bill Belichick? All right, sweet, good luck.

I'd like to see you both sit down and do that someday. But it's hard not to think like that. How long do you think the world will think like that? And is that how everybody views it in New England? No, that's not how everybody views it. And Connor can absolutely tell you that there's plenty of us in the media who are covering it. We watch and we say,

okay, well, we understand what Bill has accomplished. But if you look at the drafts since 2013 on, you would have done better if you went off but if you look at the drafts since 2013 on, you would have done better if you went off the media drafts than the players the Patriots drafted. If you look at the dismount from Tom Brady, no good plan involved. You chased away the greatest player of all time. Your plan was to have Jimmy Garoppolo in, and Jimmy Garoppolo probably wasn't the answer either. and Jimmy Garoppolo probably wasn't the answer either.

Chase. If you look at, really, a team last year in which Bill Belichick had kind of orchestrated the defense, and that's supposed to be a strong suit with J.C. Jackson and Stephon Gilmore, and they can't force their division rival to punt. I'm not saying that Bill Belichick's not first ballot in the Hall of Fame, biggest brain of all time. But, I mean, is it sacrilege? Am I bad, Conor?

Yeah, I was about to say, Conor, your turn. Patriots are dead. I mean, you're not bad, Tom, but bad, Conor? Yeah, I was about to say, Conor, your turn. Patriots are dead. I mean, you're not bad, Tom, but you go to 2013. We won three Super Bowls since 2013. I don't know if the draft matters that much if you're doing that. Those guys who won those Super Bowls were the ones who were drafted. The Chungs, the Mayos, the Hightowers, the Chandler Jones, the Julian Edelmans, all of those guys, that whole coterie of players, came in from 2008 to 2012.

From 2013 on, they haven't added enough talent. Oh, no. I did not expect this. We signed Gilmore, and he won defensive player of the year. Yeah, but who cares? Have you seen your draft? Who won the Super Bowl? What do you mean who cares?

That's all that matters. Tommy, I could not wait for you to get on here. I didn't know this was going to be a fucking, you know, like a memorial almost. Not for me. Not for me. I'm a straight shooter out here. He's there, boots on the ground. Straight shooter. I don't think so.

Tell him he's not coming, Connor. Connor will talk Celtics. Come on. No, let's stick with the Pats here a little bit longer. I'm enjoying this kind of. Connor, is everything that you say to us on air and off air a fucking lie? Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. The Pats are going to be fine and Bill's

probably going to have the number one offense this year. But Tom, can you at least tell me something about the offense now? There's no fullback. Jakob Johnson just said, hey, they don't need my services because they're not going to use a fullback because it's just all spread and Mac Jones is just spinning the pill. And then please just tell me something good about Cole Strange because all that's been

on the internet is him at the goddamn senior bowl getting torched. Torched. If you rolled it a little bit longer, he did have a couple of reps where he stood up fine. That's what Bill's all about. And interestingly, this does add to the fact that maybe Bill is probably involved with the offense. Coincidentally, if he's really involved with the offense, he went offense with two picks right out of the chute.

Bill won't do that. But Devontae Parker's a good add. Their wide receiver room is good. To me, Con, if you want to look at it, Johnnie Smith missed a ton of time in the offseason last year. He had a baby. He had a hamstring. in the offseason last year. He had a baby. He had a hamstring. He blew off OTAs.

He's there now. The Patriots want to make him their AH 2.0 without the off-field stuff. They want to have him. You won't even say his name. I hope. You won't even say his name. Well, I mean, if I do, you guys are going to snipip it Put it out there And the next thing you know It's in his hand

He's a hell of a player He's been around the block We still can You saying AH 2.0 I think we'll get even more Like Football wise

Football Yeah on the field On the field Great player I didn't know he missed OTAs You told Bill to go Fuck himself After Bill paid him

A bunch of money A lot of people said To please bend over NFL Because they were not happy With the COVID rules Last year bunch of money a lot of people said to please bend over nfl because they were not happy with the uh covid rules last year you remember so a lot of guys blew it off because they didn't think the nfl had a good plan in place so there was a lot of bending got it go ahead aj tom what do you think the patriots record will be this year uh eight and nine oh 8-9. Oh, shit! You guys are dead, dude! What? Oh, my God! I didn't know you guys were dead!

You guys are dead! I mean, hey, look, I said a few weeks ago, I think the Dolphins are going to win 10 games, so 8-9 isn't that crushing. Oh, boy! The expectations are low! Oh, my God! I turned him. What'd he say? What'd he say? I turned him.

This is because of you, Tom. I mean, literally, it sounds like doom and gloom right now. I mean, you got to be realistic. Look what Miami did in free agency. Look at Buffalo. You guys couldn't even get into the punt in the playoffs. I didn't even know that. We beat the ones last year.

What is wrong with Connor? Connor? What is wrong with me? Is this because of old Uncle Tommy? We're in May right now. Look, we'll see what happens by the time September comes around. I'm not saying we're definitely going 8 and 9 like Tom is, because Tom, you can admit it,

you're a patriot pessimistic. You can admit that. He always has been? Is that something he's been? For a little bit now. Like around town, you and your friends are like, oh, fucking Tom. Is that how you're viewed around town, Tom? It's kind of morphed into that.

That has to be a pretty negative existence, huh? You just walk around the streets, Tom, fucking cheer up, Tom. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, what am I supposed to do? You got the best offensive coordinator of his generation go someplace else. He's not replaced by anybody but two coaches who just got fired elsewhere for not doing a great job. And I'm supposed to say, these guys are going to be terrific. Yeah, you can't.

You can't do it. Come on, a reputation uphold, Con. You with me? I'm not on that kind of facet. I don't have a reputation. I just kind of do stupid things. What about his journalism? You're doing it for journalism is what you're saying, Tom? Journalism's dead

The whole thing is We just want to be right In the end whether it's you, Connor AJ, anybody we just want to be right So you're sitting there you're all sports fans We'd like to see the team do better than worse But in the end when you're watching Them play and if you say

Something's not going to work And it works you go oh shit okay notifications off yeah yeah because if you're predicting gloom and doom and something good happens it's like you negative pessimist why didn't you why weren't you on our side but if something negative happens then you'll get more readers anyways everybody be like tom was right last question for you here mr kern we Curran. We can't thank you enough. Go ahead, Tom. Tom, you mentioned him. Is Devontae Parker, is he going to be

the guy in the wide receiver room and potentially the wide receiver that they've been missing for a few years? Yeah, I think he should be and could be. The difference between him and Nelson Aguilar, because he's really playing the same position as Aguilar, is he's just a stronger player. Aguilar is a great field stretcher, the same position as Aguilar, is he's just a stronger player.

Aguilar's a great field stretcher, but it's just not really what the Patriots offense does. So I would see Parker as probably supplanting him. They have more than enough wide receivers, Con. Their offense should be more than fine with the decent level of talent they have. And a good play caller. They don't have a play caller right now. I know. That's what I'm saying. It's like they need it,

sounds like. Well, they got to get one. I thought you said they have a good one. Yeah, they need one. Oh, so you don't think Bill's a good play caller because his 91 season wasn't good? Is that what you're saying? Christ. Six and ten. Oh, he looked it up. Well, how did the team do? All right, last question from Ty. Go ahead. Tommy, you mentioned

the Celtics. One of my favorite things on twitter seeing you post those videos you with that explosive first step towards the bucket elbow jumper uh how is are the celtics kind of the the team in boston now are you sensing that is there more excitement around them than there is the patriots and how's the basketball game the basketball game is about we do transition over the golf a little bit once April comes. The golf game is tight right now, real tight. But the Celtics – How old are you?

What are you? What are you? What's your handicap? 8.8. Oh, that's good, Tom. He's a player. 8.8. Guy's got a stick.

What? People like the Celtics. People are on the Celtics. But it's funny because people are washing ashore after 90 games and rendering all these impressions. Look, the second best player on the Celtics, the second most impactful player on the Celtics is Rob Williams. And it ain't that close.

Both sides of the floor, the number of plays and trips that he impacts, he is their second best and most important player. So when he's out there, sky's the limit. So are you super positive on the Celtics all the time, Tom? Most players. Just why? You just want them to be better or no? I just want the product to look good.

I watch every single Celtics game and when I sit down, I want to see a competent product of basketball. Right? Fuck yeah. Friday night was a disaster. Last night Oh, yeah. Right? Fuck yeah. Like, Friday night was a disaster. Last night, though. Good.

Terrific. Terrific. Was it Friday night or Saturday night? Saturday night. Every other night. So is Boston transitioning to a Celtics town now? A basketball town? A basketball city? Kind of.

I mean, we don't have a lot going on here sometimes in terms of weather. Whoever's playing good, we're jumping on. Bru going on here sometimes in terms of weather. Whoever's playing good, we're jumping on. Bruins stink, right? Bruins are dead. Bruins are filthy. Bruins are dead. Red Sox stink. Red Sox are on the up and up.

You know that's not true. Red Sox are horrendous. I don't mind watching a team develop either. See, that's the thing with the whole Matt Jones thing. I don't care if they go 10-7 and 9-8. You just want to see them getting better. The post-Brady stuff was going to suck We were all lucky enough to watch

20 years of the greatest experience In NFL history As journalists, as fans Whatever you were Right Parade time That's why you got to have hope Who's that little fucking kid at all those parades?

I don't know That little shit That kid. Oh, that little shit? He sucks. Hey, that kid's awesome. What a childhood. But it did make every other kid from every other city that grew up anywhere go, well, that would have been a fucking great time. You're saying those days long gone, huh?

It's going to be a bit. It's going to be a bit. Oh, gloom and doom from New England, from our favorite New Englander that joins us every once in a while. I need to get you back on here more. I know you've got time on the course. You're getting eight and eight. Let's get that thing to seven. You know what I mean? Done. Done. I'll update you. Alright, we appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen,

from NBC Sports Boston, Tommy Curran. Yeah, Tommy! Yeah, they want everybody to be in there forever. Yeah, yeah. Forever. But they don't want any, like, it doesn't look good for any league to have any player test positive for street drugs so they don't want to test they they would love to get rid of it i would imagine yeah they also don't want to like you to miss a game you know i think it's

because they've seen who potentially has tested positive they're like wow so we can take their money they still have to play and they could smoke that's fucking best of all world that's fucking great that's exactly what we want you know the nba getting rid of it there had to be some sort of negotiation with the nbpa there had to be some give and take there no business is going to chris paul right yeah i was gonna say i mean like that is in the nbpa like some of like their most high profile players are the ones who are the president the vice president those guys like hey listen i want to smoke we're not gonna do this we're fucking done with you testing for it. Well, what are you going to give us? Already, though, the

NBA, it took like six positive tests for it to be made public back in the day. Well, the NFL was what, three positive tests for marijuana or two? Yeah, three, I think. Yeah, one gets you in the program. Maybe two. Yeah, maybe it was two or three. Two was a fine

maybe, then the third one was you lose games. You lose a game then, right? And then it's public, right? Yeah, maybe it was two or three. Two was a fine, maybe. Then the third one was you lose games. You lose a game then, right? And then it's public, right? Yeah, I think so. That's why you just got to smoke like a Poo-Pourri. Spice. Yep, that stuff seems to be pretty stable. Yeah, it's real safe for my lungs.

Are people still doing it? I don't think so. I don't think so. It feels like that was back in the day. Salvia? That stuff's scary, too. I don't know how easily findable that was back in the day. Salvia? That stuff's scary, too. I don't know how easily findable that is. Is that easily findable?

I don't know, but it had to run. So there was a run of mushrooms, I recall. Not me, obviously. Yeah, other people. Friends of mine that went other places. There was a run of mushrooms for a while whenever the drug testing got real strict and tight because i guess that's a spinal tap so only way you find that or whatever so i mean you shut one thing down another thing's obviously going to happen i think in most cases do most

like the majority of people don't want to do mushrooms every day though do they i mean some people microdose all day i know that i don't know i uh my some i've yeah let's get out of here. I'm not getting into this. I'll tell you. There are like chocolates they have now that people eat every day. Man, the micro does it. People pill it. They have EMT vape pens.

They have everything. What? Yeah. Where? I don't know. I know. I've heard people that have them, though. I didn't know that was the case.

How's his toe, obviously. How's his toe? All right. know i've heard people that have them though i didn't know that was the case obviously all right let's get out of here dude what a show we appreciate you all uh hammer dines in about 15 minutes then you guys are recording an episode of the pod which is going to be electrifying that'll come out tomorrow um aj editing who edits that mitt yeah that got passed down right well uh yeah not for that no not for that what are you talking about i thought who's uh who one of the interns is doing something with the pod i thought yeah he's herbie is editing the daily so our show that is live every single day gets cut up as a podcast every day as well uh pat mags show 2.0 is the podcast that is cut up every single day. Ty has done that since the beginning of time.

Over 1,000 podcasts. Ty has cut up and done the whole thing. Maybe one of the greatest podcast producers of all time. I definitely say. Never talk about it. Never, ever talk about Ty. We appreciate you for that. Appreciate you guys.

But it did feel as if Ty was excited to kind of help. Yep, you can fucking do it. And on Friday, we had a little bit of a mishap where an episode from a month ago was cut into the Friday episode as well. And, you know, Herbie's getting the hang of it, though. He's a good kid. He is a good kid. He's a good kid. What if you just put the whole show on and didn't cut it up?

We've started to do that. We've started to do that. We could cut it up into like six shows each day. Every hour. to do that. We've started to do that. We could cut it up into like six shows each day. Every hour. People do that. Yeah, and then they type up shit like this where they say, we've amassed more than 12 million live views. Daily.

Every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're very thankful for the people that listen to the podcast. Every day Yeah yeah yeah So We're very thankful For the people that listen To the podcast

We It's not This sounds bad But it's not a Business Focal point for us At all Or conversation point

For us at all But you know Ty has done an incredible Job with it People still listen to it Which we're very thankful for And now Herbie's doing it And hopefully we'll be able

To do that just forever We'll do it just forever We'll just kind of Some people That's the only way they consume it. Mike Nugent, Nugent's a big fan of the show, loves Diggs. He always wants me to tell Diggs how much he loves him. Nugent's like,

I don't even know what you guys look like. He's like, I have no idea what everybody looks like. I just listen to the podcast. He has no clue. Yeah, so whenever I was going through all the numbers of our company over the last few months for different conversations

that are potentially happening, I saw the podcast numbers, through all the numbers of our company over the last few months for different conversations that are potentially happening i saw the podcast numbers and i was blown away really i said oh my god what are we doing for that we doing anything just kind of cutting it down yeah just putting it up there every day okay well let's let them know we appreciate them at least there's a lot in there you know it's a lot and we're very very thankful for it. We don't game it either, which seems to be the thing. This is one of the most egregious things I've ever seen in my life written on paper. What if they just meant to say 12 million impressions? Well, they go on to say 50 million impressions across social platforms which is

what's an impression who knows and how can they how can you prove them wrong well we could i mean there's 13 views on a youtube video yeah i mean there is a way that we could but you would have to get back end information from twitch Twitch, Peacock, NBCLX, and DAZN, which is literally impossible, which they know. So that's why you can say. I'm going to go find out. Good PR team they have over there. Yeah.

Andrew Marchand has just tweeted some breaking news. Al Michaels will call a playoff game for NBC. Amazon Al heading back to NBC for a nostalgia swan song. One more tractor trip around another time. We like this, right? Old friends getting back together. With Collinsworth? I don't know.

That must chap Tariqo's ass. No, it has to be two games. They have to have Two different games It has to be Something like Saturday Monday Or Sunday Saturday Or Saturday afternoon

And Sunday something Tirico could do them both Yeah Well I don't think so Because they said Oh Michaels can Fucking do it I think it's great

One will do Saturday One will do Sunday Amazon has no Playoff games They only have Thursday night football So he's available Good for him

Maybe Herbie will get A fucking playoff game somewhere as well. I like it. Get your best people in the playoffs. Yeah, just like refs, just like teams. Yes. Get the best in sports media in the playoffs. Good move.

I mean, granted, the booth is already kind of full, but if Herbie were to jump up there with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, that'd be kind of sweet. I don't know if anybody in that booth would want that. True. Two people doing the same job. Well, just kind of, right? Joe and Troy have been doing their thing.

Long time. And Herbie's been, what, the main. Yeah. Not that Herbie would say he doesn't want to do it, or Joe Buck would say that he doesn't want to do it, or Trey Aikman wouldn't do it. But I think whenever you get to that level of, hey, this is how things go,

I don't know if that would just be an easy thing to drop. It's almost distracting. Yeah, I'll drop Herbie in there. It's also kind of around the national championship and i'll probably just be doing that might be too friendly to each other yeah like might be uh troy i'll let you or i'll let you like that that happens a lot whenever i have to um you know every once in a while for those premium live events uh it's me cory and cole and, Corey and Cole, much longer tenured than me. Like, they have, they've obviously worked together. So I'll find myself a lot, like, just kind of, like, all right, let me see.

Is anybody going to say what I'm about to say right now? And I'll take, like, a couple hits, and then I'm like, boom, I'm coming in strong. And then I'll be okay. So it's always, like, you know, even though I feel like I've gotten pretty comfortable in the role, it's always, like, I don't want to step on anybody else who I also believe is incredibly talented. You know what I mean, AJ? I would imagine Herbie would feel that way.

He'd be like, I don't want to come into Troy's space like that. And Joe, he probably doesn't want to do that. Yeah, Troy, I don't know if you do this. Give me the fucking telestream. All right, we're out of here. Everybody have an incredible day. I feel like we really did the phones today. Oh, yeah.

More than six. What was that, four? Pretty good. I thought we did a full slate. Nah. Four. One of them didn't pick up, I guess.

Let's go to Brendan in Ohio. Brendan, three calls from Ohio today. Yeah. Shoney, stop. What's going on, Brendan? Pat, AJ, boys, Con, how we doing?

Keep moving. Howdy, baby, Con. Hey, baby, Con. Hey, quick question for you boys. After seeing WWE where Pat is still undefeated in sanctioned matches at WrestleMania, Hey, quick question for you boys. After seeing WWE where Pat is still undefeated in sanctioned matches at WrestleMania,

have you guys noticed a difference in production that you guys have brought to your show since there's such a global enterprise in what they're doing? Brendan, thank you for that question and acknowledgement. You know what I mean?

Brendan, acknowledge me. Could you imagine that being your catchphrase? So awesome. Roman just walks into every single city, okay, yoked out of his mind, the freshest Jays of all time, probably the most handsome dude in the city as well, and then he stands there, Grand Rapids. Acknowledge me me what a moment i mean that is what a thing to kind of build to and i assume he is every time he says it has to feel

like true fulfillment um getting a chance to watch the wwe work as we try to venture into live shows i think i've learned a lot yeah i think I've learned a lot. Yeah, I think I've learned a lot. And why would you not go try to watch and see how things go with a company that's been on the road for like 30 years? If you're thinking about taking your show on the road, that's probably the right place, especially if you're allowed to kind of get in there and meet even the roadies. Like the roadies are such good dudes. The amount of work that it takes to do everything that they do over there. Bodhi's are such good dudes. The amount of work that it takes to do everything that they do over there.

All the people behind the scenes getting to chat about the camera folks, the production folks, the audio folks, the director, the cutter. Like, yeah, it's like it's almost a university in and of itself if you want to do a live show every single fucking week, which they have done for like decades and decades. So, yeah, I feel as if I'm very lucky to be there to learn from those, the people that have done it at such a high level for a long time. And, I mean, the conversations I get to have with people and ask them questions about what they got going on over there is absurd. So I enjoy it. There's a lot that I get to learn from over there. And I'm very thankful for it, AJ. Very, very thankful for it. I mean, it feels like a pretty natural position for you to be in when i when i watch you on smackdown doing anything out there and you and

cole too seem to have a great rapport i feel like back and forth so it's fun honestly i don't know a whole lot about wrestling obviously you guys can tell that i have my faves out there no question a lot of old school wrestlers a lot of new school wrestlers still waiting for old dongo to get back in the wwe hopefully they bring him back soon. But yeah, I think you're awesome on that. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

It means a lot. And, you know, it's it does feel like I'm back in the like the NFL locker room, though, or a college locker room. Like my fake enthusiasm and fake energy in pointing out things that are obviously terrible, but have to happen and gas them up. Like, I felt like that was something i really did whenever i was with the colts it was something i really did uh when i was at west virginia and now being there in the building with everything else everybody's got going yeah yeah i've been home in like two weeks here we go hey biggest smackdown of all time though let's go grand rapids where else had to drive three hours to get here. Where else? Would you rather fuck me?

Let's go. And then there's always like the whole fuck off. It's like, yeah, all right. See you next year. And then I'm just kind of off and running. It's very, you know, it's cool to kind of. I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do. Not that I agree with everything that happens over there.

Not that I think everything is amazing that happens over there. Goddamn, everybody's going to make mistakes. Some bigger than others. And I believe they have. But I am very, very fortunate to go over there. You know who else? And he gets killed by people on the internet a lot. Kevin Dunn does not get enough respect in the, oh, fucking great at TV game. He now, people say he cuts so much and he does all this. He's been covering the same shit for 30 years. So he might get bored every once in a while

with the way things are being covered, especially when you're doing it two, three times a week or whatever. But the way he communicates to me and Michael Cole through our headset and how smooth he runs stuff and gets things off that we don't know are happening and he doesn't know are happening like five minutes before they happen, I think he is somebody that going into the WWE, I could have never expected being like

man fucking watching this dude work and listening to this guy work is an honor almost because the internet feels the complete opposite way about it because the cuts and the way he goes about doing things but if you could hear and see the way he does shit it's like oh this motherfucker is a guy and then i have to go experience that somewhere else with somebody else who's in my headset, whether it's whatever or whatever. And I'm listening to this person speaking. I'm like, God damn, kind of, kind of like, all right, anything I do, I'm fucking bringing Kevin Dunn with me. That's kind of how I feel. It's been, it's been fucking awesome.

And Fox, I think you've learned some shit too, right over there, I assume. A hundred percent. And like you said, everyone's just so nice. Like they don't have to be nice to me, but they're just like, yeah, fuck it, do whatever you want. They literally let me do whatever I want. But to your point about Kevin Dunn,

him cutting to you when Stone Cold is doing his thing at WrestleMania and you're on the floor chugging a beer, great awareness by him and the camera guy. That shit is unbelievable.

I believe Grogan had the camera. I think Marty was a part of that cut as well in the truck. I've heard the backstory of that. They're all so... I think a lot of them watch his show every day too. Shut up.

Is Kevin Dunn the producer? Director? What is he? I have no idea what his title is. I just know he's fucking a part of everything. If I have a question about something,

I'm normally getting directed straight to Kevin Dunn. It's like that's kind of... We were lucky enough to see that truck. It was really cool. It was so cool. Man, it's... Hey. kind of. We were lucky enough to see that truck. It was really cool. Yeah. The audio. It was so cool. Man, it's.

Hey, a lot of things are said about the WWE. Okay. A lot of things are said about the WWE. Well. And if you're in the spotlight for that long, things are going to be said about you. The fucking. It's. It's a family.

It's remarkable to watch unfold. It's like a family environment there, too. That's like the best part about it. Yeah. And if you end up on the outs with the family. I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's easy to get back in. I'm out of Herbst and Shore, but everybody's very cool to us. And I'm very, very thankful and lucky to be there and learn.

And, yeah, I don't always hit it out of the park. There's some things where I'm watching unfold because they don't tell me what's going on. I'm like, so what the fuck is the goal? Like, as I'm watching, I'm like, what? Because I'm trying to tell the story, too. You know, like, I'm trying to help. Do you have a talkback button? Can you talk back to him?

Yeah, but there's so much going on. Like, they don't need me. There's four to five different people in our head. I mean. Well, they're cutting. Like, how many? I don't know how many cameras they have. They have to have a ton of cameras out there.

And he's got to be boom, boom, boom, boom the whole time. Graphics, camera, audio, pyro. Pyro. Pyro, everything. Yeah, I mean, there is... You got to worry about Butch and where he's at. Butch. Yeah, that fucking son of a Butch.

How's he get that hat to stay on his head? It's magic, because that's what fucking Butch is. Yeah. That's magical. Beast. I'm lucky to work over there. I'm very thankful to work over there. But I'm always trying to learn.

I think that is something that never gets chatted about. It's maybe my favorite hobby, learning about stuff. That's interesting. It's a great hobby to have. I don't fucking need to hear it about whatever bullshit they wanted to teach in class. If it's going to help me do life better for me and my people i would like to know check it out i'd like to know about it and let me watch the people who've been doing it at a high level for a long time

oh that makes sense that's smart i got to see vinatieri do it like that was and payton and payton yeah for the first few years it's like i get to watch that person work it's like I feel very fortunate for getting to do that but I think a lot of people not a lot of people I think some people forget about that whenever they're around some people it's like hey you're allowed to like watch and just you don't have to ask questions you don't have to do anything you can just kind of see how they go about doing stuff and that might shape the way you view what you should be doing as well some people people are just going to miss all that, I think. Don't be in your own world. Don't be stuck in your own head.

Look around. And I wouldn't be scared to ask questions either. People like that, they're scared to ask exact or big-time people questions. Those people probably love it because a lot of those people that are in those high positions, if someone's genuinely curious about what they're doing, they would love to give feedback, I'm sure. Yeah, you've got to talk to them like a human. I was just simply referring to the people that are like introverts and

you know what I mean? Like, hey, just watch. You can just learn a lot from just watching a motherfucker, too. What Malik Willis is doing with Ryan Tandy. That's right. You know what I mean? I'm not mentoring this fucking guy. If he wants to watch me work, fucking watch me work. This is how I do it. God damn it, I was in a dark place

two months ago. Fucking A. Get off my ass. All right, we're back tomorrow. Hammer Down is about 15-20 minutes. Can is how I do it. God damn it, I was in a dark place two months ago. Fucking A, get off my ass. All right, we're back tomorrow. Hammer Down's about 15, 20 minutes. Can't wait to watch it.

Boys are on winter streak right now, huh? Let's go, boys. Beat up a bum, won some bets. Hell yeah, feel good. This guy went undefeated on the ice last night. Life is good.

Like everyone did on the ice last night. Life is good. Shout out Mr. Perfect. For a few more days. Well. Be all right, pal. You're going home. You're going home.

Going home. Tell the feds you're going home. I'd rather stay with all the lads. You got to do what you got to do, pal. Fuck! We will miss you. Where is he supposed to stay? What if he didn't have a place?

I guess, yeah, just be a bum. Yeah. Don't worry. It's very reasonably priced back there right now, too. He told me he wanted to go, hey, since I'm going to have to go home, I'm going to go stay in somebody's house. I'm like, fuck, get a nice. You know, if you're going to go do time, like fucking get a nice. You know what I mean?

I can overlook the ocean. Fucking penthouse. Let me see that shipyard you used to have to work in. Get the fucking building right above that thing. Good internet. Yeah, great internet on there. Go do what you got to do so we can get you here full time forever. Hell yeah.

You know, and the process has been a lot more complicated and longer than any of us could have imagined. But I assume COVID kind of threw a fucking wrench in the way. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Joe, maybe, too. Fucking Brandon. What? You're a fucking idiot.

What? Why would you do that right now? I thought immigration was supposed to be easy these days. It's the buffoons we've been working with. Yeah, it's not. I do think we did think that it was going to be much easier. Yeah. I think it is.

I don't know. You got to go home for a couple weeks. Hopefully. Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully. This is a whole process. Now he has to go back. And I think this was supposed to be done a couple months ago,

but now because it's happening, he has to go back. Do you have to go back because you have to do a bunch of stuff in person or what? No, the timing of the phase that we were in big by the way paid people a lot of fucking money a lot to handle this and then we get an email oh well this next process at this time has to happen by this time and if not we had this it's like well that time was a month and a half ago did you did you not read the date that you sent that to us and what date you just said oh i must have got lost in our files. Oh, that's right. Oh, okay.

Guess you're going to have to fly home this weekend. Yeah, you've got to go home fucking now. I think next Wednesday is the expiration almost. Tell them the check got lost in the mail then when they were trying to send it to them. We already fucking did that. We already found the check.

That was up front, pal. Send that retainer back. Yeah, that ain't happening. We're fucking out money. But yeah, we got an extendo on it. They said this should go quicker than what they expected. Right. Might be a couple weeks, maybe a month, maybe a couple months, maybe a year.

Really? Before football? Bro, dude, this has been the most. Is that kind of range? Oh, it's terrible. Yeah, it's like a fucking, hey, we're going to come in and check your internet between 8 a.m. and fucking 9 p.m. Please have somebody home at all times. It's a Wednesday yeah it's like a fucking hey we're gonna come in and check your internet between 8am and fucking 9pm please have somebody

home at all times it's a Wednesday it's like alright that ain't impossible that's kind of what's going on here you know so we'll get Gumpy back

we'll get him back we'll get him back yeah we'll get him back we'll definitely be back you kidding me go do your hard time you gotta go I saw the place he's gonna stay at like this guy's going on vacation okay yeah So do your hard time on Burger King. You got it, Gump. You're set.

I saw the place he's going to stay at. Like, this guy's going on vacation. Okay. Yeah. If not, if it doesn't work out, have him shave his beard and sneak back in the country. Our country? Yeah. Why not?

And then just tell everybody, hey, I'm good to go. Everything passed. It's Elias. It's Gump. He's young as a duck. All right, we're out of here. We're Elias. It's Gumpy's younger brother. Alright, we're out of here. We're back tomorrow. Cheers. Alright, alright, alright. All right. Thank you. so One, two, three, four. All right. Outro Music